US issues sanctions to hit Iranian efforts to build ballistic missiles

The United States issued sanctions on Wednesday to target Iranian efforts to domestically manufacture components for ballistic missiles, the U.S. Treasury Department said.

The sanctions target six individuals and 12 entities for what the Treasury Department said was "their involvement in efforts to help the Iranian regime domestically source the manufacturing of critical materials needed for Tehran's ballistic missile program."

The Treasury Department alleges that those sanctioned, based in Iran and China, support various Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps sub-organizations that oversee the effort to develop carbon fiber materials needed to manufacture intercontinental ballistic missiles.

The sanctions are the latest since U.S. President Donald Trump reinstated his "maximum pressure" campaign on Iran in February. The Trump administration has been imposing sanctions even as Washington and Tehran have held talks on Iran's nuclear program.

Iran said on Tuesday that a recent round of talks with the U.S. had been fruitful, but Washington's imposition of further sanctions was not compatible with the negotiations.

The Treasury Department on Tuesday imposed sanctions on more than 20 companies in a network that it said has long sent Iranian oil to China, while last week the department sanctioned a Chinese independent, or "teapot", oil refinery and port terminal operators in China for purchases of Iranian oil.