
(PatriotsUnited.org) – In reaction to what he characterized as an extension of Iran’s nuclear program, which has rekindled concerns that the nation is planning to construct an atomic weapon, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced further sanctions targeting their oil industry.
Three UAE businesses and eleven boats involved in the shipment of Iranian petroleum and petrochemical goods were sanctioned by the U.S. on Thursday in response to Tehran’s expansion of its nuclear program. Reports of progress in Iran’s nuclear program prompted the State Department to unveil the blacklists on Thursday.
Amid repeated warnings of a potential escalation in tensions between Israel and Hezbollah, the dominant Shia force in Lebanon and an Iranian proxy, the three unidentified businesses involved in the transportation of petroleum or petrochemical goods from Iran were hit with sanctions.
According to a statement by Blinken, the Iranian uranium enrichment program has grown in ways that have no credible, peaceful purpose during the last month. Eleven ships linked to the three sanctioned groups would be labeled as “blocked property” under the new regulations.
Since then-President Trump imposed sanctions on Iran and withdrew the U.S. from a multi-party nuclear agreement that had been put in place by Obama to prevent the Middle Eastern nation from acquiring a nuclear weapon, Iran has been intensifying its nuclear program.
According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium has grown by 17% in the past three months, bringing the Tehran dictatorship one step closer to possessing the necessary material to construct an atomic weapon.
Iran plans to erect eight more cascades, each housing 174 centrifuges, in its subterranean Fordow Enrichment Plant, quadrupling its enrichment capacity.
By the end of the first month, the facility could create enough weapon-grade enriched uranium for five nuclear bombs, according to the Institute for Science and International Security. By the end of the second month, that number rises to nine.
The remarks made by Iranian officials indicating possible modifications to Iran’s nuclear philosophy, together with Iran’s persistent refusal to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency, make Iran’s moves to boost its enrichment capability even more worrisome, according to Blinken.
He was referring to remarks made by an adviser to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Kamal Kharazzi, who recently said that after Iran’s series of military exchanges with Israel in April, the government may adjust its defense strategy to allow the development of nuclear weapons.
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