Chicago – April 19, 2024
The U.S. announced a fresh set of sanctions on Iran targeting the production of unmanned aerial vehicles Thursday as Tehran warned Israel it would review its official stance on nuclear weapons if its atomic facilities were attacked.
The latest wave of actions Thursday by the United States and Iran come on the heels of Tehran’s missile and drone attack on Israel last weekend.
Senior Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander Major General Ahmad Haghtalab said in brief comments on Iranian state media that Iran would “reconsider” its nuclear policy in the event of any such attack.
Iran has long maintained amid deep international skepticism that its nuclear program is for civilian energy purposes only. When pressed on this point its officials often point to the “fatwa” or formal religious ban on their acquisition, development and use made by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s Supreme Leader, in the 1990s.
But in remarks quoted by the semi-official Tasnim news agency, Haghtalab appeared to suggest that the country would change its formal nuclear doctrine if its nuclear facilities were directly attacked by Israel.
“The threats of the Zionist regime (Israel) against Iran’s nuclear facilities make it possible to review our nuclear doctrine and deviate from our previous considerations,” he said.
The Tasnim news agency is closely affiliated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.
Israel has pledged to respond to Iran’s attack, when more than 300 missiles and drones were fired at its territory. Israel has not indicated what form, or on what scale, this response will take.
US announces sanctions against Iran
Washington said Thursday that it was putting a bevy of new sanctions on Iranian companies over the assault.
Sanctions will hit Iranian companies involved in the manufacturing of drones, suppliers and customers of one of its largest steel producers and automobile companies tied to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the defense ministry.
