The latest round of sanctions on Iran constitutes an effort from the Trump administration to ratchet up pressure on Iran following President Donald Trump's decision to pull the U.S. out of the Iran nuclear deal earlier this year. | Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images Foreign Policy Trump sanctions Iran over alleged child soldier recruitment The sanctions primarily target a group that recruits young Iranians to advance Tehran's aim in countries like Syria.

The Trump administration on Tuesday hit Iran with another round of sanctions, accusing the country of recruiting child soldiers as young as 12 to fight for the regime of Bashar Al-Assad in Syria.

The sanctions primarily target the Basij Resistance Force, a domestic arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps focused on recruiting young Iranians to advance the country's aims. Basij has an expansive network of recruiting efforts in every province of the country, and has attracted young boys from Afghanistan to its cause as well, according to a Treasury Department news release.


The administration's Tuesday action specifically names a litany of Iranian banking and industrial institutions with ties to Basij, blocking their U.S. property and barring U.S. persons from engaging with them. The institutions are involved in economic activity ranging from investments to heavy industry and have networks stretching across the globe, according to senior administration officials.

The sanctions are the latest efforts from the Trump administration to ratchet up pressure on Iran following President Donald Trump's decision to pull the U.S. out of the Iran nuclear deal earlier this year. The administration has already imposed sanctions on a variety of Iranian exports and will hit the Iranian oil industry with a new round of penalties in November.

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The administration said Tuesday's sanctions are meant to illustrate human rights abuses committed by Iran's Islamic regime, which marks its 40th anniversary this year. Iran is a key ally of Assad, Syria's president.

"The recruiting of 12-year-olds is unacceptable," a senior administration official said. "It’s disgusting. It’s deplorable. Sending children to Syria from either Iran or Afghanistan to fight and very sadly to die is despicable. And we think it’s incredibly important that the world understands what it is that they’re doing.”

The Trump administration's condemnation of Iran for human rights abuses come as Trump has caught flack for his muddled response to the alleged assassination of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, whom Turkish intelligence say was murdered by a Saudi hit squad in the country's consulate in Istanbul. Khashoggi's disappearance has captured international attention as a shocking violation of diplomatic convention.

Trump has not yet called for sanctions on Saudi Arabia, putting him at odds with some members of his own party in Congress. The president has also rejected calls to cancel $110 billion worth of arms deals the U.S. has with Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia, a major U.S. ally, has long played a critical role in American efforts to counter Iranian power in the region.

When asked how Khashoggi's disappearance would impact Saudi Arabia's role in Trump's Iran strategy, a senior administration official said the U.S. has several allies in the region and is taking the Khashoggi situation seriously.

“We have a longstanding relationship with Saudi Arabia that is very significant to us, but that doesn’t mean we’re in any way ignoring or downplaying this episode, and we continue to believe those who are found responsible for it have to be held accountable. And I think that’s got to be our bottom line,” the official said.