The United States announced new sanctions on Iranian banks on Thursday. Iran’s government said the measures will hurt its citizens.
The Department of the Treasury sanctioned 18 Iranian banks based on Executive Order 13902, which enables the US government to sanction sectors of the Iranian economy in order to deny the Iranian government funds. The US reasoning is that the money would be used to fund terrorism, Iranian proxies in the Middle East and Iran’s nuclear program. Iran denies that it is building a nuclear weapon.