The U.S. announced additional sanctions targeting individuals and companies assisting Iran in producing weapons and military equipment, while the future of negotiations between the two countries remains uncertain.
On 21 Apr 2026 GMT+7, the Trump administration began enforcing a new round of sanctions aimed at individuals and companies providing further assistance to Iran, as the future of U.S.-Iran talks remains unclear and the fragile ceasefire agreement between the two nations is nearing its end.
The U.S. Treasury Department stated in a release that the new sanctions affect 14 individuals, companies, and aircraft in Iran, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates involved in supplying or transporting weapons and weapon components, including drone parts.
"The Iranian regime is responsible for coercing the global energy market and indiscriminately attacking civilians with missiles and drones," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.
This sanction package targets three individuals linked to an already sanctioned Iranian company that supplies thousands of servo motors used in Iran's suicide drones, with these parts found in the wreckage of the Shahed-136 drone that was shot down.
Tehran has used drones to attack U.S. infrastructure located in several Persian Gulf countries throughout the war. Additionally, the Shahed drone model has been extensively employed by Russia in its conflict with Ukraine.
The sanctions also focus on a Turkey-based company accused of shipping cotton linter to a sanctioned Iranian firm on hundreds of voyages.
The U.S. Treasury explained that this cotton linter is processed into nitrocellulose, which enhances the performance of solid-fuel rocket engines, and that such engines are commonly used in guided missiles.
Furthermore, several individuals linked to Iran's Mahan Air, already under U.S. sanctions for supporting the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), were also targeted.
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Source:cnn