The United States on Tuesday (local time) imposed sanctions on the networks of companies and individual for transferring money to Iran's elite paramilitary Revolutionary Guards Corps force.
"We are targeting a vast network of front companies and individuals located in Iran, Turkey, and the UAE to disrupt a scheme the Iranian regime has used to illicitly move more than a billion dollars in funds," Al Jazeera quoted US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin as saying in a statement.
In total 25 people and companies including Ansar Bank, Iranian Atlas Company have been blacklisted.
In 2018, US President Donald Trump withdrew from Nuclear deal and imposed various sanctions against Iran, which had visible impacts over Tehran's economy. Trump had accused Iran of not "living up to the spirit of the deal"
Trump while imposing the sanctions have also targeted IRGC, which is the country's most powerful security organisation, to keep overseas funding to it under check.
The "toughest sanctions" on Iran which has punctured the country's economy. Tehran has seen its oil exports plunging and its currency losing more than half its value.