WASHINGTON, Apr. 18 (Sputnik) – The United States has imposed new Iran-related sanctions on 16 individuals and two entities, targeting the country’s UAV program, steel and automobile industries in response to Tehran’s retaliatory strike on Israel over the weekend, the US Department of the Treasury said on Thursday.

"Today, in response to Iran’s unprecedented attack on Israel on April 13, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is targeting 16 individuals and two entities enabling Iran’s UAV production, including engine types that power Iran’s Shahed variant UAVs, which were used in the April 13 attack," the department said in a press release.

US President Joe Biden said in a statement that he has directed his team to continue imposing sanctions on Iran to further degrade its military industries.

The United Kingdom on Thursday added the general staff of the Iranian armed forces and the navy of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to its sanctions list, according to the updated document.

The UK also added heads of several companies connected with Iranian defense sector to the sanctions list, including Seid Mir Ahmad Nooshin, the director of the Aerospace Industries Organization, and Amir Radfar, the director of Shahid Bagheri Industrial Group.

On April 13, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched over 300 drones and missiles at Israel in its first-ever direct attack on Israeli territory, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said. The attack came in response to Israel's airstrike on the Iranian consulate in the Syrian capital in early April. IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said Israel had intercepted 99% of the aerial targets fired by Iran, including all drones. Tehran claimed that its retaliatory attack “hit designated targets.”

Photo from AP