U.S. Plans to Impose Sanctions on Iranian Entities as Early as Friday, Sources Say

The U.S. plans to impose new sanctions on Iranian entities as early as Friday, sources familiar with the matter said.

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The sanctions will be imposed in a manner that would not violate the Iranian nuclear deal, the souces said, and have been under consideration for some time. Further, the sanctions are expected to be imposed partly because of the recent Iranian ballistic missile test.

The sanctions are expected to include about eight Iranian entities under an existing terrorism-related executive order and about 17 under existing weapons of mass destruction-related order, another source said.

President Donald Trump told reporters on Thursday said "nothing is off the table" in terms of a response to Iran's ballistic missile test.

Trump made the comment in response to a question about whether he would consider military options to respond to Iran, a day after his national security adviser put Tehran on "notice."

Senior U.S. congressional Republicans said on Thursday they would support new sanctions on Iran, backing up President Donald Trump's aggressive posture toward Tehran.

Paul Ryan, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, said he would support more sanctions, and that the United States should stop "appeasing" Iran.

"I would be in favor of additional sanctions on Iran," Ryan told reporters at a weekly press conference. I'd like to put as much toothpaste back in the tube as possible. I think the last administration appeased Iran far too much," he said.

Senator Bob Corker, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told Reuters his committee was "in the early stages" of working on legislation related to the nuclear issue.

He said he had discussed it at the White House with Trump's national security adviser, Michael Flynn, on Wednesday, just before Flynn issued his warning that Washington was putting Iran on notice for its "destabilizing activity."

Corker said the Trump administration would take a stronger stance against Iran, although he did not expect its actions would bring an end to the international nuclear deal.

"The administration, thankfully, is going to follow through on appropriately holding Iran accountable for the violations that are taking place," he told Reuters.