The United States announced on Wednesday new sanctions on Iran and threatened further action unless Tehran "fundamentally" changed its behavior, amid heightened tensions between the two countries.
President Donald Trump issued an executive order announcing the new sanctions targeting Iran's steel, aluminum, copper and iron sectors, which provide foreign currency earnings for Iran's crippled economy.
Earlier Wednesday, Iran threatened to enrich its uranium stockpile closer to weapons-grade levels in 60 days if world powers fail to negotiate new terms of the 2015 nuclear deal. Trump pulled out of the deal a year ago, but European and other nations stayed in.
Iran's move comes at a sensitive moment in the region.
The White House has said it dispatched the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and B-52 bombers to the Arabian Gulf over what it described as a new threat from Iran.
In announcing the new sanctions, Trump said that “Tehran can expect further actions unless it fundamentally alters its conduct.”
The new move “puts other nations on notice that allowing Iranian steel and other metals into your ports will no longer be tolerated,” he added in his statement.
