US Treasury will allow 90-day wind-down period for fresh Iran sanctions

The US Treasury Department said on Thursday it would allow for a 90-day period to wind down transactions in certain sectors of Iran’s economy hit with fresh US sanctions last week.

The period, which expires April 9, will allow transactions to be wound down in the construction, mining, manufacturing or textiles sectors of Iran’s economy that could fall under the sanctions, though new business would still be sanctionable, according to the Treasury Department’s website.

The United States imposed more sanctions on Iran on Friday in retaliation for its missile attack on US forces in Iraq last week and vowed to tighten the economic screws if Tehran continued “terrorist” acts or pursued a nuclear bomb.

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The targets of the sanctions included Iran’s manufacturing, mining and textile sectors as well as senior Iranian officials who Washington said were involved in the January 8 attack on Iraqi military bases housing US troops.

In a related development, two Iranian agents were sentenced to prison in the US on Wednesday on charges of spying on American citizens and US nationals, the US Department of Justice announced.

Ahmadreza Mohammadi-Doostdar, 39, a dual US-Iranian citizen and Majid Ghorbani, 60, an Iranian citizen living in the US, aided the Iranian government in targeting Americans in the US who oppose the Iranian regime, according to the DOJ statement.