The U.S. on Tuesday announced sanctions on a group of 10 individuals and entities based in Iran and Venezuela that are allegedly linked to the weapons trade between the two countries.
Those targeted include a Venezuelan company, Empresa Aeronautica Nacional, which is allegedly linked to millions of dollars of Iranian drone sales to Venezuela. The sanctions also target three Iran-based individuals who are allegedly part of an effort to procure chemicals used for ballistic missiles, according to the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.
“Iran’s ongoing provision of conventional weapons to Caracas constitutes a threat to U.S. interests in the Western Hemisphere, including the Homeland, and the United States will use all available measures to prevent this trade,” the Treasury Department said in a statement.
The sanctions come a day after President Donald Trump threatened to “knock the hell” out of Iran if the country seeks to build up its ballistic missile reserves or reestablish its nuclear weapons program.
Iranian military sites and weapons programs were damaged earlier this year by attacks carried out by Israel and the U.S.
