WASHINGTON (JTA) — The Obama administration imposed new sanctions on Iran targeting its information-control apparatus and its energy sector.
The sanctions posted Wednesday on the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Assets Control website name Iran’s communications regulator; its "cyber police"; Iran Electronics Industries, which dubs itself "the major producer of electronic systems and products in Iran;" and its broadcasting authority, all believed by U.S. authorities to be instrumental in keeping Iran’s opposition from organizing.
Also named in the posting were 37 oil tankers operating under non-Iranian flags but linked by the Treasury Department to Iranian entities. The Treasury Department also updated its guidelines for trading with Iran.
Sanctions passed by Congress in recent years have targeted Iran’s energy sector as a means of forcing the regime to make more transparent its nuclear activities. The same laws also include provisions aimed at penalizing Iran for its human rights abuses.
