US President Donald Trump on Wednesday (September 18th) announced that details of new Iran sanctions would come in the "next 48 hours", AFP reported.
Ongoing US sanctions on Iran target Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the Islamic republic's top brass, while also seeking to choke trade in a variety of goods from oil to carpets.
Trump on Wednesday promised details of new sanctions within 48 hours in response to attacks on Saudi oil facilities that Riyadh has blamed on Iran.
New sanctions imposed in June built on a series of previous ones.
In addition to Khamenei, the sanctions target eight senior commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).
The US also blacklisted Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, whose US assets were frozen on August 1st.
Last November, the US took aim at Iran’s oil exports and financial transactions.
Specific actions targeted Iran's banking, shipping and energy sectors, threatening penalties against companies, even those of US allies in Europe and elsewhere, that do business in them.
In May, in a bid to further choke off oil exports, the US lifted exemptions granted to eight countries, including Turkey and India, that had allowed them to purchase Iranian oil.
As a result, exports fell from two million barrels a day in early 2018 to 400,000 in July this year.
