Sanctions just in, Iranians in drills shoot off missiles

TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran carried out further missile tests during an annual military exercise on Saturday, a day after President Donald Trump imposed fresh sanctions on a raft of individuals and companies in response to the country test-firing a ballistic rocket last week.

The country successfully tested a range of land-to-land missiles and radar systems during drills in a 13,515-square-mile stretch of desert in the northern Iranian province of Semnan, the semiofficial Tasnim agency reported Saturday, citing Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps' aerospace division.

"If the enemy falls out of line, our missiles will pour down on them," the brigadier general was cited as telling reporters on the sidelines of the military trials, without referring to any particular nations. Any threats made by the U.S. against Iran were "nonsensical," Tasnim cited him as saying.

All the equipment used in the war game, including all defensive systems, radars, command centers and ground-to-air missile equipment, was designed and manufactured by Iranian scientists, Tasnim reported.

A statement on the Revolutionary Guard's website said the aim of the exercise was "to showcase the power of Iran's revolution and to dismiss the sanctions," according to Reuters.

English-language Press TV in Iran reported that Senior Vice President Ishaq Jahangiri dismissed what he called recent anti-Iran posturing by the U.S. He said the "threadbare" accusations aim to scare away investors.

"The Iranian nation and authorities do not attach the least value to these remarks," he said.

The U.S. Treasury Department published a list Friday of 13 individuals and 12 entities facing new restrictions for supporting the missile program, having links to terrorism or providing support for the Revolutionary Guard. The entities include companies based in Tehran, the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon and China.

[PRESIDENT TRUMP: Timeline, appointments, executive orders + guide to actions in first 100 days]

In response, Iran "will take action against a number of American individuals and companies that have played a role in generating and supporting extremist terrorist groups in the region or have helped in the killing and suppression of defenseless people in the region," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement published by the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency. The targets of its sanctions will be named later, it said.

The Trump administration has sought to take a harder stance on Iran, banning its citizens from entering the U.S. and accusing the nation of interfering in the affairs of U.S. allies in the Middle East. But the U.S. sanctions announced Friday were limited in scope, serving mostly as a warning signal.

"These are not major players," Sam Cutler, a sanctions lawyer at Horizon Client Access in Washington, said of those on the list.

"It seems to be a follow-up on a previous action that the Obama administration took in terms of identifying people in existing networks that had been previously sanctioned. I see this as consistent with prior policy rather than anything new, the rhetoric notwithstanding."

The sanctions wouldn't affect a deal signed between Boeing Co. and Iran's national carrier in December, according to a Trump administration official who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity. The agreement to sell 80 planes is valued at $16.6 billion and is the first of its kind since 1979.

"This action reflects the United States' commitment to enforcing sanctions on Iran with respect to its ballistic missile program and destabilizing activities in the region," the Treasury Department said in its statement.

It called the actions "fully consistent" with a nuclear accord Iran reached with the U.S. and five other world powers.

While Trump's decision to take action against Iran early in his administration pleased U.S. lawmakers in both parties who were never comfortable with President Barack Obama's tentative rapprochement with Iran, it could unsettle domestic Iranian politics as President Hassan Rouhani seeks re-election in May.

"With the increase in sanctions, the perception that the U.S. might be rolling back on the Iran deal -- and the anti-Iran mood that is emerging in Washington -- will further empower hard-liners in Iran, where the rhetoric will be, 'We told you so -- these people cannot be trusted," said Maha Yahya, director of the Carnegie Middle East Center.

A second administration official said the sanctions were pulled together after extensive consultation between various government agencies and the National Security Council.

The official said the U.S. wants to work with Iran when it abides by its international commitments, but will continue to pressure Iran to change its behavior.

"Iran is playing with fire -- they don't appreciate how 'kind' President Obama was to them. Not me!" Trump tweeted early Friday.

Ahead of the announcement, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said, "Iran is unmoved by threats as we derive security from our people." He added later, "We will never use our weapons against anyone, except in self-defense."

Tensions between the two sides were already escalating before the tests. While the missile tests didn't contravene the nuclear accord signed in 2015, they are seen by some nations as going against a U.N. Security Council resolution that enshrines the agreement.

A third administration official said the recent missile test defied the resolution because the missile met payload and range parameters that make it capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. The official called Iran's missile launches extremely provocative and destabilizing.

Still, the new sanctions weren't directed at Iran's nuclear program and wouldn't directly affect the agreement forged under Obama's administration that eased restrictions in exchange for Iran's promise not to develop nuclear weapons.

For its part, Iran has urged the U.S. not to overreact to the tests. Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan insisted that they were part of Iran's ongoing defense program and were not illegal, according to the Tasnim news agency.

Information for this article was contributed by Nick Wadhams, Saleha Mohsin, Golnar Motevalli, Selcan Hacaoglu, Ladane Nasseri, Dana Khraiche and Kambiz Foroohar of Bloomberg News; by Amir Vahdat of The Associated Press; and by Erin Cunningham of The Washington Post.

A Section on 02/05/2017