Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps

The Iranian flag flies during a demonstration in front of the British embassy in Tehran on January 28, 2009. On Monday, Israel’s Ministry of Defense announced the seizure of 187 crypto wallets, which it says have received $1.5 billion and are linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. File Photo by Mohammad Kheirkhah/UPI | License Photo

Sept. 15 (UPI) — Israel’s Ministry of Defense announced Monday the seizure of 187 cryptocurrency wallets that have received $1.5 billion. Israel says the wallets are linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC, which has been designated as a terrorist group.

While $1.5 billion moved through the wallets over time, they currently hold $1.5 million, according to a document, detailing the seizure order and freezing the wallets from making any future transactions.

“Pursuant to my authority according to section 56b of the Anti-Terrorism Law 5776 — 2016 and having been convinced that the cryptocurrency wallets specified in the list are property of the designated terrorist organization Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, or property used for the perpetration of a severe terror crime as defined by the law, I hereby order the seizure of the property,” Israel Katz, minister of defense, wrote in the Administrative Seizure Order.

Israel, the European Union and the United States are among a number of countries that have sanctioned the IRGC as a terrorist organization. Blockchain monitoring firm Elliptic said it cannot confirm whether the wallets do belong to the IRGC.

“Some of the addresses may be controlled by cryptocurrency services and could be part of wallet infrastructure used to facilitate transactions for many customers,” Elliptic said in a blog post.

This is not the first time the IRGC has been linked to the use of cryptocurrency.

In June, more than $90 million was allegedly stolen from the Iranian crypto exchange Nobitex by a pro-Israel group. Elliptic has linked Nobitex to the IRGC.

Last December, the U.S. Treasury Department added cryptocurrency addresses, which had received $332 million, to its sanctions lists.

And on Friday, the U.S. Justice Department announced it had seized $584,741 from Iranian national Mohammad Abedini, who runs a navigation systems business used by IRGC’s military drone program.

“There were always rumors that IRGC was using cryptocurrency to circumvent sanctions,” said Amir Rashidi, director of digital rights and security at the Iran-focused nonprofit Miaan Group.

“Many of these cases might, for example, involve exchanges that are not directly part of the IRGC but are connected to it, similar to many banks, financial and credit institutions, or even companies that appear to be private.”

Revolutionary guards say suspects apprehended in northeastern Iran as materials for making weapons are also seized.

Iran has arrested eight people suspected of attempting to transmit the coordinates of sensitive sites and details about senior military figures during the country’s 12-day war with Israel and the United States to the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, according to its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

The IRGC released a statement on Saturday alleging that the suspects had received specialised training from Mossad via online platforms.

It said they were apprehended in northeastern Iran before carrying out their plans, and that materials for making launchers, bombs, explosives and booby traps had been seized.

The news comes as state media reported earlier this month that Iranian police had arrested as many as 21,000 “suspects” during the June conflict, though they did not say what these people had been suspected of doing.

Following an Israeli military bombardment that began on June 13, killing top military officials and scientists as well as hundreds of civilians, Iran retaliated with barrages of missiles on Israeli military sites, infrastructure and cities.

The US also carried out extensive strikes on Israel’s behalf on Iranian nuclear sites during the conflict, the worst blow to the Islamic republic since its 1980s war with Iraq.

During the 12-day war, Iranian security forces began a campaign of widespread arrests accompanied by an intensified street presence based around checkpoints and “public reports”.

Iranian citizens were called upon to report on any individuals they thought were acting suspiciously during the war that ended in a US and Qatar-brokered ceasefire.

Iran has executed at least eight people in recent months, including nuclear scientist Rouzbeh Vadi, hanged on August 9 for passing information to Israel about another scientist who was killed in Israeli air strikes.

Human rights groups say Iran uses espionage charges and fast-tracked executions as tools for broader political repression.

The Israel-US-Iran conflict has also led to an accelerated rate of deportations for Afghan refugees and migrants believed to be illegally in Iran, with aid agencies reporting that local authorities have also accused some Afghan nationals of spying for Israel.

“Law enforcement rounded up 2,774 illegal migrants and discovered 30 special security cases by examining their phones. [A total of] 261 suspects of espionage and 172 people accused of unauthorised filming were also arrested,” police spokesperson Saeed Montazerolmahdi said earlier this month.

Montazerolmahdi did not specify how many of those arrested had since been released.

He added that Iran’s police handled more than 5,700 cases of cybercrimes such as online fraud and unauthorised withdrawals during the war, which he said had turned “cyberspace into an important battlefront”.

Tehran rejects Australia’s accusations, calling the move unjustified and influenced by internal political developments.

Iran has promised reciprocal action following Australia’s decision to expel its ambassador in Canberra over accusations that Tehran was behind anti-Jewish attacks in the country.

On Tuesday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei “absolutely rejected” Australia’s accusations, saying “any inappropriate and unjustified action on a diplomatic level will have a reciprocal reaction”.

Baghaei also said the measures appeared to be “influenced by internal developments” in Australia, including weekend protests across the country against Israel’s war on Gaza, which organisers said were the largest pro-Palestine demonstrations in Australia’s history.

“It seems that this action is taken in order to compensate for the limited criticism the Australian side has directed at the Zionist regime [Israel],” he added.

Earlier on Tuesday, Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Iran was behind the torching of a kosher cafe in Sydney last October and directed a major arson attack on a synagogue in Melbourne in December.

There were no casualties in either of the attacks where assailants set fire to the properties, causing extensive damage.

Al Jazeera’s Tohid Asadi, reporting from Tehran, said Iran sees Australia’s actions “as a continuation of hostile actions by the Australian side over the past years”.

“Australia has imposed several sanctions [on Iran], for example, in 2024 after Iran’s retaliatory action to attack the Israeli territory”, he said, adding that Tehran sees these latest moves “as another sign of Australia siding with the Israelis”.

Expelled ambassador ‘vocal in his support for the Palestinian cause’

Australia declared the Iranian ambassador, Ahmad Sadeghi, “persona non grata” and ordered him and three other officials to leave the country within seven days. Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the move marked the first time Australia has expelled an ambassador since World War II.

Australia also withdrew its ambassador to Iran and suspended operations at its embassy in Tehran, which opened in 1968.

Wong added that the government will continue to maintain some diplomatic lines with Iran to advance Canberra’s interests.

Sadeghi was “vocal in his support for the Palestinian cause”, Foad Izadi, a world studies professor at the University of Tehran, told Al Jazeera.

“That is the main reason for Australia’s decision to expel him. Just a few days ago, we saw the largest pro-Palestine demonstrations in many Australian cities.

“Expelling a country’s ambassador is rarely done, and the fact that the Australian government has done this is an indication that … they’re afraid of their own population and they’re afraid of the demands this population [makes] when it comes to the issue of genocide in Palestine.”

PM Albanese also said, “… the government will legislate to list Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, the IRGC, as a terrorist organisation.”

The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation is investigating possible IRGC involvement in other anti-Jewish attacks since Israel’s war on Gaza began in October 2023.

Izadi rejected those claims, saying it “has not provided any evidence”. He believes the Australian government has taken these decisions as it “is worried about the fact that the Australian people are seriously questioning Australia’s support for Israel” and “demanding that the government be more active in opposing the genocide in Palestine”.

Australia’s moves against Iran come as the country’s ties with Israel plummet over its criticism of Israeli-imposed famine and the war on Gaza, as well as its decision to join France, the United Kingdom and Canada in recognising a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly in September.

Last week, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Albanese a “weak politician who betrayed Israel and abandoned Australia’s Jews”.

The Australian government has hit back at Netanyahu, with Minister for Home Affairs Tony Burke saying that strength was not measured “by how many people you can blow up or how many children you can leave hungry”.

June 21 (UPI) — Israel’s military on Saturday killed two more top Iranian military officials during overnight strikes as fighting between the two nations entered a second week.

Iran warned it would be “very dangerous for everyone” if the U.S. intervened in the conflict. U.S. President Donald Trump said he has a maximum two-week timeline given Thursday on whether the United States will strike.

Saeed Izadi, the head of the Palestine Corps of al-Quds, which is the foreign branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp, was killed in a strike at a home in the city of Qom in central Iran, Israel Defense Forces said. He played a key role in the financing and arming Hamas‘ attack of Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, according to IDF.

Behnam Shahriyari, another senior official, also died in a strike. He was responsible for al-Quds helping finance the Lebanese militia Hezbollah.

An Iranian nuclear scientist, Isar Tabatabai-Qamsheh, and his wife, additionally died in an Israeli strike in Tehran, the Mehr News Agency reports.

At the start of the conflict, several leaders died, including Hossein Salami, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and Mohammad Bagheri, the chief of staff of Iran’s armed forces. Also killed were Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the head of the IRGC’s aerospace forces, and Ali Shadmani, who was recently appointed as head of the central command.

Early Saturday morning, Iran launched missiles at Israel with at least one building in central Israel catching fire from shrapnel of an intercepted Iranian missile. Later Saturday morning, a drone strike damaged a residential building in north Israel. No casualties were reported from the strikes.

Israel said it deployed 50 aircraft over Iran overnight, hitting Iran’s Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant for the second time in Qom. Nearby, a strike on a residential building killed two people and injured four others Saturday, according to Iran’s state media.

More than 400 people have been killed in Iran since the conflict began eight days ago, Iran state broadcaster IRIB reported Saturday in citing Iran’s health ministry.

“As of this morning, the Israeli regime’s hands are stained with the blood of 400 defenseless Iranians, and it has injured 3,056 people with its missiles and drones,” the health ministry said.

“Most of the casualties and fatalities were civilians.”

Iranian strikes have killed at least 25 and injured hundreds, according to Israel. Israel has intercepted 99% of the 470 Iranian drones launched since the war began.

Diplomatic efforts

Talks between Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi and European counterparts in Geneva, Switzerland, ended Friday night with no breakthrough. Britain, France, Germany and the European Union are involved in the negotiations.

“It is obvious I cannot go to the negotiations with the United States when our people are under bombardment, under the support of the United States,” Araghchi told reporters Saturday in Istanbul, Turkey.

Foreign ministers with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation met there.

Araghchi urged for the “aggression” to end “for us to come back to diplomacy.”

The meetings in Geneva were focused on a nuclear deal between the U.S. and Iran as part of a cease-fire. The European nations’ proposal includes Iran moving to zero uranium enrichment, restricting its missile program and ending Tehran’s financing of proxy groups.

Trump has wanted Iran to end all uranium enrichment, claiming they are building a nuclear bomb. Iran has said it is for peaceful purposes, including energy plants.

“Israel is doing well, in terms of war, and Iran … is doing less well,” Trump said Friday. “It’s a little bit hard to get somebody to stop.”

Trump said U.S. officials have been speaking to Iran.

French President Emmanuel Macron said Saturday he spoke on the phone with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, noting that France will “accelerate” negotiations between European nations and Iran.

“Here again, my position is clear: Iran must never acquire nuclear weapons, and it is up to Iran to provide full guarantees that its intentions are peaceful,” Macron wrote in a post on X. “I am convinced that a path exists to end war and avoid even greater dangers. To achieve this, we will accelerate the negotiations led by France and its European partners with Iran.”

The International Atomic Energy Agency said in a report on May 31 that Iran had produced enriched uranium to a level of 60%, which was of “serious concern.”

The airstrikes have delayed efforts to build an operational nuclear weapon.

“According to the assessment we hear, we already delayed for at least two or three years the possibility for them to have a nuclear bomb,” Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar told German newspaper Bild in an interview published and broadcast Saturday.

Also, more than 50% of Iran’s missile launchers were destroyed, an Israeli military official said.

A senior Iranian official told CNN that they are replacing quantity with quality and the nation has been using more advanced precision missiles.

Strikes hit residential areas

Though the attacks have been focused on military and nuclear targets, tens of thousands of city residents have been displaced, particularly those in Tehran.

Esmaeil Baghaei, who is Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson, said on Friday that three aid workers were killed, and six ambulances and four healthcare centers.

“The intentional attack on a Red Crescent ambulance in Tehran is a clear example of a war crime and a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law,” Baghaei said.

Despite the bombings, residents in Tehran told CNN they are trying to return to normal life.

“The initial shock had passed,” one resident said. “People are trying to go about their lives as best and as normally as they can.”

The resident also said: “Things are fine. Roads are getting busier back into Tehran from other areas because the government has said work begins on Sunday.”

In Israel, a two-story residential building in northern Israel was hit by a drone, the Magen David Adom said in a statement Saturday, Al Jazeera reported. No casualties were reported.

On Friday, an Iranian missile hit Israel’s northern city of Haifa, wounding at least 31 people.

It was the second attack on Isfahan as the conflict enters a second week, killing at least 430 people in Iran and 24 in Israel.

A key nuclear site in Iran’s Isfahan province has come under Israeli attack, with local officials saying there were no radiation leaks.

Early on Saturday, smoke could be seen rising from an area near a mountain in the city of Isfahan after Israeli air strikes hit the nuclear site overnight, triggering the air defence system.

It was the second attack on Isfahan as the conflict between the Middle Eastern nations entered a second week, killing at least 430 people and wounding nearly 3,500 others in Iran, according to Iran’s health ministry.

No casualties were reported in the Isfahan attack, authorities said.

Israeli forces also hit a military installation in the southern Iranian city of Shiraz in Fars province, according to Iranian media.

On the Israeli side, explosions were heard above Tel Aviv, where buildings were seen on fire.

In central Israel, the emergency services released images showing fire on the roof of a multi-storeyed residential building. Local media reports said the blaze was caused by falling debris from an Iranian missile that was intercepted.

At least 24 people have been killed by Iranian missile attacks in Israel, according to local authorities, in the worst conflict between the longtime enemies.

Meanwhile, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Saturday that Israel has killed Saeed Izadi, who led the Palestine Corps of the Quds Force, the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ (IRGC) overseas arm, in a strike on an apartment in the Iranian city of Qom.

Calling his killing a “major achievement for Israeli intelligence and the Air Force”, Katz said in a statement that Izadi had allegedly financed and armed the Palestinian group Hamas ahead of its October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.

IRGC said five of its members died in Israeli attacks, according to Iranian media. They did not mention Izadi, who was on United States and British sanctions lists.

Hostilities broke out on June 13 when Israel launched air strikes on several sites across Iran, including military and nuclear facilities, prompting Tehran to launch retaliatory strikes.

Israel claims it attacked Iran to prevent it from developing a nuclear bomb, although Iranian negotiators were engaged in talks with the US to curb its enrichment programme in exchange for sanctions relief.

The International Atomic Energy Agency and US intelligence have both said there were no signs that Iran was building a nuclear weapon, despite Tehran having enriched uranium beyond the threshold needed for civilian purposes.

However, Trump on Friday said US intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard was “wrong” in saying that Iran was not developing a nuclear bomb.

Iranian government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani told Al Jazeera that Tehran remains open to dialogue at the United Nations and other such forums.

“We believe in listening to the other side. That’s why our diplomats are present in Geneva, to hear the other side out,” Mohajerani said, adding that any diplomacy must begin with global recognition of Israel’s attack on Iran.

Al Jazeera’s Tohid Asadi, reporting from Tehran, said Iranians are angry over Israel “not just targeting nuclear facilities and military complexes”.

“The reality on the ground is ordinary people are being attacked on a daily basis,” he said.

“Many in the Iranian capital have chosen to leave, but we have to keep in mind we’re talking about 10 million people living in Tehran city and 14 million in Tehran province. It’s putting pressure on surrounding areas.”

Israel and Iran have launched more strikes on one another overnight and into the morning as the military confrontation between the two traditional adversaries persists.

Iranian attacks on Israel on Monday morning killed at least eight people and wounded dozens, officials reported, while Tehran said Israeli attacks overnight hit military and civilian targets.

The mutual strikes pushed the death toll from four days of open conflict between the foes close to 250.

Raised rhetoric emanating from both countries following the strikes suggested there is little prospect of the hostilities halting soon, with the risk of an escalation into a wider regional conflict persisting.

Iran announced it had launched some 100 missiles and pledged further retaliation for Israel’s sweeping attacks on its military and nuclear infrastructure, which have killed at least 224 people in the country since Friday.

In Israel, state broadcaster Israeli Army Radio reported that eight people were killed – five in the central part and three in the port city of Haifa.

That takes the total death toll in Israel to more than 20 since it launched air attacks on Iran four days ago. More than 300 others are reported wounded.

A branch of the United States Embassy in Tel Aviv sustained “minor damage” as a result of the attack, US Ambassador Mike Huckabee said.

Earlier, Israel carried out further strikes on Iran. The Israeli military said its jets struck several command centres in Tehran belonging to Quds Force, an elite arm of its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) that conducts military and intelligence operations outside Iran.

“In these command centers, Quds operatives advanced terrorist attacks against the State of Israel using the proxies of the Iranian Regime in the Middle East,” it wrote in a post on X.

On Sunday, Iran said Israel had struck oil refineries, killed the IRGC’s intelligence chief and hit population centres in intensive aerial attacks.

‘Make a deal’

Much of the world has urged restraint since the conflict broke out on Friday when Israel launched an attack on Iran’s nuclear and missile facilities, killing military commanders and scientists.

Israel said the action was necessary to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons that would threaten its survival.

Iran retaliated with ballistic missiles, and the countries have been engaged in an exchange of strikes since.

US President Donald Trump said on Sunday he hoped the adversaries would “make a deal”, but added that they might have to “fight it out” first.

A staunch ally of Israel, Trump has maintained erratic messaging since the strikes began, raising concern that the conflict could escalate.

Iran has said the US is complicit in the Israeli military action, and suggested it could target US forces in Syria and elsewhere in retaliation.

Trump has insisted that Washington has “nothing to do” with Israel’s bombing campaign, but also threatened to unleash “the full strength and might” of the US military if Iran attacked its interests in the Middle East.

That has helped encourage a rise in the hardline rhetoric emerging from Tel Aviv and Tehran, which continued on Monday, suggesting there is little chance either side is ready to step back.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz warned on Monday that residents in Tehran would “pay the price” for Iran’s killing of Israeli civilians in its overnight missile attacks.

“The boastful dictator from Tehran has turned into a cowardly murderer, deliberately firing at Israel’s civilian home front in an attempt to deter the (Israeli military) from continuing the offensive that is crippling his capabilities,” Katz wrote on his Telegram channel. “The residents of Tehran will pay the price – and soon.”

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian, meanwhile, urged people to put aside differences and unite against Israel.

“Every difference, issue, and problem that has existed must be put aside today, and we must stand strong against this genocidal criminal aggression with unity and coherence,” he said, addressing parliament.

Israel has suggested that regime change in Iran could be one result of the conflict, hoping to press opposition to the regime in Tehran to rise.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran’s response will stop when Israel halts its attacks.

The IRGC warned through a statement to the official IRNA news agency, “effective, targeted and more devastating operations against the vital targets” in Israel “will continue until its complete destruction”.

Elijah Magnier, a military and political analyst, told Al Jazeera that few signs of a let up have been seen.

“I think it’s going to continue escalating because we are just in the first days of the war,” he said. “The Israeli officials, the prime minister and the army, have all warned Israeli society that this war is going to be heavy and … the price is going to be extremely high.”

Meanwhile, Alex Vatanka, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, told Al Jazeera that Iran would likely welcome an end to hostilities in the non-too-distant future.

“I don’t sense they have the confidence that they can stay in this game for long. Remember, Iran is alone. It’s got no friends, it’s on its own. Israel’s got the US, most of Europe and plenty of other friends … and that should obviously be of concern for Tehran.”

June 12 (UPI) — Israel Defense Forces launched early morning aerial attacks against dozens of nuclear sites in Iran on Friday to prevent the Islamic nation from developing nuclear warheads.

Iran has said its top commander in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, Gen. Hossein Salami, along with some of the country’s top nuclear scientists, were killed in the strike.

The United States has denied any role in the strikes, but U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the Trump administration is in close contact with Israel and its allies.

“President Trump and the Administration have taken all necessary steps to protect our forces and remain in close contact with our regional partners,” Rubio said in a statement. “Let me be clear: Iran should nor target U.S. interests or personnel.”

A spokesperson for Iran’s Armed Forces, Gen. Shekarchi, said that Israel and the United States will “receive a forceful slap” and Iran’s Armed Forces are prepared to bring counterstrikes and promised that “a retaliation attack is definite, God willingly,” he said on state television.

Warning sirens sounded across Israel in anticipation of Iranian retaliation as the IDF attacks continued during the early morning hours on Friday, The Jerusalem Post reported.

The Israeli Air Force said it will continue the strikes against Iranian nuclear and long-range missile targets for several days.

“At the end of the operation, the will be no nuclear threat” from Iran, IDF officials told media.

“We are in the window of strategic opportunities,” the IDF said. “We have reached the point of no return, and there is no choice but to act now.”

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz declared a state of emergency throughout the country in anticipation of retaliatory attacks.

“Following the State of Israel’s preemptive strike against Iran, a missile and drone attack against the state of Israel and its civilian population is expected in the immediate future, Katz said.

Iran’s pursuit of a nuclear arsenal triggered the military strike by Israel as diplomatic efforts failed to divert Iran from its efforts to become a nuclear power.

“Weapons of mass destruction in the hands of the Iranian regime are an existential threat to the State of Israel and to the wider world,” the IDF said.

The action is being coordinated with the United States, according to the IDF.

The Israeli military strike against Iran would not be supported by the United States, NBC News, The New York Times and ABC News reported earlier on Thursday.

Earlier in the day, U.S. and Iranian representatives discussed a potential agreement that would enable Iran to enrich uranium for energy but not to produce nuclear weapons.

The Trump administration was awaiting a response from Iran regarding the potential agreement framework, but Iranian negotiators have become more “hardline” during the process, President Donald Trump said.

The hardline stance by Iranian leaders caused the Trump administration on Wednesday to order non-essential staff with the Defense and State departments to leave the Middle East due to reports of a pending Israeli strike on Iran.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had pressured Trump to approve an Israeli strike against Iran before it produces a nuclear warhead and while Iran is vulnerable, The New York Times reported.

Trump says he prefers to negotiate a nuclear non-proliferation agreement with Iran, which Iran’s hardline stance made more difficult to achieve.

U.S. and Iranian negotiators were scheduled to meet in Oman on Sunday, but Trump has said Iran has adopted “unacceptable” negotiation demands.

Britain has announced new threats against commercial shipping in the Middle East, and Trump on Wednesday told the New York Post he has become less confident that Iran won’t pursue the development of nuclear weapons.

The U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem on Thursday limited movement by its employees in anticipation of a potential Israeli military strike against Iran and its uranium enrichment facilities.

Israel opposes any form of uranium enrichment by Iran, which the board of governors for the International Atomic Energy Agency recently concluded is not complying with existing nuclear agreements.

Iran’s military has begun drills that are aimed at targeting enemy movements after learning of the potential Israeli strike, The Jerusalem Post reported.

IAEA investigators found man-made uranium particles at three locations in Iran in 2019 and 2020 and in a recent quarterly report announced Iran has enough enriched uranium to develop nine nuclear warheads.

“We have been seeking explanations and clarifications from Iran for the presence of these uranium particles,” IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi said.

“Unfortunately, Iran has repeatedly either not answered or not provided technically credible answers,” Grossi said.

Iranian officials have tried to sanitize the sites and thwart IAEA inspectors, he added.

May 14 (UPI) — For a third straight day, the United States on Wednesday issued sanctions targeting Iran as the Trump administration attempts to negotiate a new nuclear arms deal with the Middle Eastern country.

The punitive measures imposed by the Treasury Department are secondary sanctions, meaning those aimed and punishing third parties for dealing with previously designated entities, individuals and countries.

The sanctions target six individuals and 12 entities in China and Iran accused of aiding Tehran source the manufacturing of critical materials used in the Islamic state’s ballistic missile program, specifically carbon fiber materials used in the construction of intercontinental rockets.

The State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce explained in a statement that Iran is “heavily reliant on China to conduct its malign activities in the Middle East.”

The targets work with the U.S.-sanctioned elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

“The United States cannot allow Iran to develop intercontinental ballistic missiles,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.

“The Iranian regime’s relentless and irresponsible pursuit of advanced ballistic missile capabilities, including its efforts to indigenize its production capacity, represents an unacceptable threat to the United States and the stability of the region.”

The sanctions are the third batch of Iran-targeted punitive measures that the Trump administration has imposed this week as it engages in negotiations with Iran on a new agreement aimed at preventing Tehran from securing a nuclear weapon — a goal long held by President Donald Trump.

In 2018, during his first term in the White House, Trump slapped sanctions on Iran and unilaterally pulled the United States from a landmark Obama-era multinational accord, calling it “defective at its core.”

He pursued a so-called maximum pressure campaign of sanctions and other punitive measures, but failed to coerce Iran back to the negotiating table, and it instead advanced its nuclear weapons capability to the point the U.S. government estimated in 2022 that it would need just a week to produce enough weapons-grade highly-enriched uranium for a nuclear weapon.

In February, Trump reinstated his maximum pressure policy, which includes the recent batches of further sanctions.

The United States and Iran have had four recent negotiations on a new deal, but there does not appear to be a fifth round scheduled yet.

Trump administration officials have said a deal would see Iran dismantle its three enrichment facilities, but Iranian officials have said it will not stop enriching uranium but would be open to restrictions.

Trump is in the Middle East this week for a four-day trip, and has repeatedly voiced optimism that a deal can be made.

“I have a feeling it’s going to work out. I think it’s going to work. It’s got to work out, one way or the other we know it’s going to work out,” Trump said during a press conference Wednesday in Doha, Qatar.

Later to reporters aboard Air Force One, he was more direct with his threats against Iran.

“One way or the other. It’s very simple. It’s going to happen one way or the other. They can’t have a nuclear weapon. So, we will either do it friendly, or we will do it very unfriendly, and that won’t be pleasant,” he said.

The Trump administration has said it has sanctioned more than 250 people, entities and vessels related to Iran and its proxies since February.