By Wall Street Journal

President Barack Obama signed tough new sanctions against Iran into law, the White House announced late Friday.

The sanctions, which sailed through Congress earlier this month, target Iran for not complying with U.S. and Western pressure to halt its nuclear program, which Tehran says is for peaceful purposes.

Among other things, the law (pdf) closes loopholes in existing sanctions law on Iran, and adds penalties for those aiding Iran’s petroleum, petrochemical, insurance, shipping and financial sectors. It also broadens the list of available programs under which sanctions can be imposed on Iranian individuals and entities.

Parent companies of foreign subsidiaries violating sanctions can be targeted, and all sanctionable activity must be disclosed to the Securities and Exchange Commission, under the new law.

The law comes on top of legislation that targets anyone doing business with Iran’s central bank.

Despite Friday’s signature, some lawmakers slammed Obama for taking about a week to sign the law.

“Time is of the essence,” the bill’s sponsor, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R., Fla.), said in a statement quoted by The Hill prior to Obama signing the bill. “We need to stop making exceptions and impose the strongest pressure against Iran that we can.”

 

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