On the heels of the United States announcing new sanctions against companies and individuals transferring technology for Iran’s ballistic missile program, Iran responded with its own sanctions regime on US military companies involved in supporting Israeli settlements. In a March 26 statement, the Iranian Foreign Ministry announced sanctions on “companies directly or indirectly participating in brutal Israeli crimes in occupied Palestine or that have backed terrorism by [Israel] or have violated United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334 regarding the expansion of illegal settlements in occupied Palestine.”
The ministry's statement said that the new US sanctions on Iranian individuals and companies were “against international law and contradictory to the text and spirit of the comprehensive nuclear agreement.” On March 24, the US State Department had announced that the Iran-related sanctions included 11 companies in China, North Korea and the United Arab Emirates that were working with Iran’s ballistic missile program. The Iranian Foreign Ministry statement said that Iran has a “legal right to defense” in pursuing its missile program, particularly against any foreign intervention on its territory.