The United States on Thursday announced new sanctions on Iran targeting its drone production after it attacked Israel, and President Joe Biden said G7 leaders were committed to acting together to increase economic pressure on Tehran. .

Britain announced it would also coordinate sanctions against Iran in coordination with Washington.

Biden said the United States and its allies had helped Israel repel an April 13 missile and drone attack and were now holding Iran accountable through new sanctions and export controls.

“The sanctions target leaders and entities associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Iran’s Defense Ministry, and the Iranian government’s missile and drone programs that enabled this brazen attack,” Biden said in a statement.

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron called Iran’s behavior “unacceptable.”

“(This) sends a message to Israel that we want to play our part in developing a coordinated strategy to deal with Iranian aggression,” Cameron said on the sidelines of a meeting of foreign ministers of the Group of Seven (G7) Western powers in Italy.

The Treasury Department said the U.S. measures target 16 individuals and two entities that support Iranian drone production, including the type of engine that powers the Iranian Shahed variant of the drone used in the April 13 attack.

Tehran said it carried out the attack in retaliation for an Israeli attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus on April 1 that killed two generals and several others.

Israel said it would retaliate against Iran’s unprecedented launch of missiles and drones, while a senior Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander said on Thursday that Iran may review its “nuclear doctrine” following Israel’s threats.

sanctions target

The U.S. Treasury Department said it also designated five companies in multiple jurisdictions to provide steel production component materials to Iran’s Khuzestan Steel Company (KSC), one of Iran’s largest steel producers, or to purchase KSC’s finished steel products.

Three subsidiaries of Iranian carmaker Barman Group, which allegedly provides material support to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, were also targeted.

The U.S. Commerce Department said in a separate statement that it would further restrict Iran’s access to “low-level technology” and increase the list of items that require licenses to export or re-export to Iran, including items manufactured abroad using U.S. technology.

Britain said it was sanctioning seven individuals and six entities, including the Armed Forces General Staff and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy.

The West has repeatedly imposed sanctions on Iran over the years, and Britain says it alone has imposed more than 400 different economic restrictions on Israel’s old enemy.

European Union leaders also decided on Wednesday to tighten sanctions on Iran after Tehran’s attacks on Israel raised concerns about a wider conflict in the Middle East.