The US on Friday announced new sanctions against Iranian officials and the country’s construction, manufacturing, textiles and mining sectors in response to Iranian strikes on US bases in Iraq on Tuesday. The sanctions, announced at the White House by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, were included in an executive order which will include both primary and secondary sanctions, prohibiting trade with these sectors. The move higher came after Iran launched missile attacks on US bases in Iraq in retaliation for last week’s US drone strike in Baghdad that killed General Qassem Soleimani. The US imposed primary and secondary sanctions on Iranian steel and iron manufacturers, the Liberia-flagged Hong Xun vessel, involved in the transfer of products, a network of three China- and Seychelles-based entities, and eight senior Iranian […]