The U.S. State Department has announced new sanctions on Iran’s missile programs that also target China. “The United States is sanctioning six entities and six individuals based in Iran and China for their role in a network procuring ballistic missile propellant ingredients on behalf of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC),” State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said in a statement issued April 29. “Today’s action, which targets this network that has facilitated the procurement of sodium perchlorate and dioctyl sebacate from China to Iran, is taken in support of the United States’ maximum pressure campaign to curtail Iran’s ballistic missile program and disrupt the activities of the IRGC, as outlined in the President’s National Security Presidential Memorandum 2 of February 4, 2025.”
A separate Treasury Department statement, also on April 29, reports that both ammonium perchlorate and dioctyl sebacate are chemicals usable in solid propellant rocket motors, which are commonly used for ballistic missiles. Allegations that China has been supplying chemical ingredients for rocket fuel to Iran have been circulating since at least last February. Those allegations were also the basis for rumors that last weekend’s blast and fire at Iran’s Bandar Abbas port may have been caused by such cargo.
