Rice, Paulson Roll Out New Iran Sanctions

Condoleezza Rice and Hank Paulson will roll out a new package of US sanctions against Iran today, targeting the Revolutionary Guard Corps and its covert foreign-operations wing, the Quds Force, which the US accuses of aiding insurgents in Iraq and elsewhere. It will be the broadest set of punitive measures imposed on Tehran since 1979, the Washington Post reports, and the first time the US has tried to sanction another nation's military.

Officials said the US will freeze assets of banks, companies, officials, and agencies affiliated with the country's weapons programs and support for foreign insurgencies, the Wall Street Journal reports. The Revolutionary Guards control a large section of the economy, including construction, oil, telecommunications, and pharmaceutical companies, and members are in the highest echelons of Iran's government. (More al Quds Force stories.)