WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States issued fresh sanctions on Iran on Wednesday, the Treasury Department said, two days after President Donald Trump announced the U.S. planned direct talks with Tehran over its nuclear program.
The department designated five entities and one person based in Iran for their support of Iran’s nuclear program, Treasury said in a statement, with the aim of denying Iran a nuclear weapon.
The designated groups include the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran and its subordinate, Iran Centrifuge Technology Company, Treasury said.
The action comes after Trump made a surprise announcement on Monday that the United States and Iran were poised to begin direct talks on Tehran’s nuclear program, but Iran’s foreign minister said the discussions in Oman would be indirect.
In a further sign of the difficult path to any deal between the two geopolitical foes, Trump issued a stark warning that if the talks were unsuccessful, “Iran is going to be in great danger.”
(Reporting by Doina Chiacu;Editing by Brendan O’Brien)
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