Friday, January 1, 2016

White House delays imposing new sanctions on Iran: WSJ

Reuters 
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An image on the Iranian Defence Ministry website on October 11, 2015 us said to shows the launch of an Imad missile at an undisclosed location in Iran...
An image on the Iranian Defence Ministry website on October 11, 2015 us said to shows the launch of an Imad missile …
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House has delayed imposing new financial sanctions on Iran over its ballistic-missile program, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.
On Wednesday, the Journal, citing U.S. officials, said the Obama administration was preparing to sanction nearly a dozen companies and individuals in Iran, Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates for their role in developing Iran's ballistic-missile program.
The U.S. sanctions were expected to be formally announced this week, the newspaper said.
Sources familiar with the situation confirmed to Reuters that the United States was preparing sanctions.
The Obama administration is committed to combating Iran's missile program and the sanctions being developed by the U.S. Treasury Department remain on the table, the Journal reported on Thursday, citing U.S. officials.
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President Barack Obama pauses while delivering a speech August 5, 2015 at American University in Washington, DC. President Obama spoke about the nucle...
President Barack Obama pauses while delivering a speech August 5, 2015 at American University in Washington, DC. …
But U.S. officials offered no definitive timeline for when the sanctions would be imposed, the newspaper said. At one point, they were scheduled to be announced on Wednesday morning in Washington, according to a notification the White House sent to Congress, the Journal reported.
Imposing such penalties would be legal under the landmark nuclear agreement forged between global powers and Iran in July, the officials said, according to the Journal.
Iranian officials have said the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, would view such penalties as violating the nuclear accord.
U.S. officials have said the Treasury Department retains a right under the nuclear deal to blacklist Iranian entities suspected of involvement in missile development.
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Iranian President Hassan Rouhani talks to journalists after he registered for February's election of the Assembly of Experts, the clerical body that c...
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani talks to journalists after he registered for February's election of the Assembly …
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani ordered his defense minister on Thursday to expand Iran's missile program, in defiance of the U.S. threat to impose sanctions over a missile test Iran carried out in October.

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