Description: The US Treasury Department has announced the imposition of new wave of sanctions on up to five entities and an individual which were found to have been connected to the funding or support of Iran’s disputed nuclear enrichment campaign. The sanctioned entities were discovered to have been connected via financial routes with Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization (AEOI) and the Iran Centrifuge Technology Company (TESA). The new wave of sanctions arrived in a period of heightened tensions between the two adversaries which are engaged in a proxy covert war of high stakes, threathening global and regional security and stability.
Impact: Iran’s disputed nuclear program plunged the country in one of its worst economic crises which would considerably aggravate, as the US continues to impose sanctions on critical sources of revenue. Tensions between the two countries have consistently been on the rise in the past couple of months with Russia and China interceding diplomatically in an attempt to defuse the situation which could implode and put both Iran and the US on the path to direct confrontation. The sanctions could be considered as additional incentive to force Iran to succumb to crucial concessions over its nuclear enrichment as the countries are set to have initial negotiations on 12 Apr in Oman. Speculations regarding the directness or indirectness of the negotiations indicated that both countries approach the initial contact, happening after 10 years of radio silence, with a dose of skepticism which could result in failure to find common ground further aggravating the situation.