US officials have announced new sanctions against Iran which are expected to target senior officials in the region, following recent airstrikes against US troops in Iraq in retaliation for the killing of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said on Friday that the US would impose new sanctions on anyone doing business with industries representing a significant portion of Iran's economy.

Donald Trump will sign an executive order authorizing new sanctions “against any individual owning, operating, trading with or assisting sectors of the Iranian economy, including construction, manufacturing, textiles, and mining” or any other sector which Mr Mnuchin or Mr Pompeo might designate in the future.

The president said the sanctions will remain in place "until the Iranian regime changes its behaviour. The United States is ready to embrace peace with all who seek it."

Additionally, Mr Mnuchin said the US would also level 17 specific sanctions against Iran's largest steel and iron manufacturers, three entries based in the Seychells, and "a vessel involved in the transfer of products". The sanctions are expected to cut off "billions of dollars" to the country, Mr Mnuchin said.

Mr Pompeo added that sanctions would be levelled against eight other individuals to strike "at the heart of the Islamic Republic's inner security apparatus", including the secretary of Iran's supreme national council, the head of Iran's Basij forces, and other individuals "close to" Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei.

US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Show all 35 1 /35 US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures This photo released by the Iraqi Prime Minister Press Office shows a burning vehicle at the Baghdad International Airport following an airstrike in Baghdad, Iraq, early Friday 3 January AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures The wreckage of the car in which general Soleimani was travelling when a targeted US airstrike struck outside Baghdad International Airport on 3 January Ahmad Al Mukhtar via Reuters US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Demonstrators burn the US and British flags during a protest in Tehran after general Soleimani was killed in a targeted airstrike by American forces Reuters US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A burning vehicle at the Baghdad International Airport following an airstrike. The Pentagon said Thursday that the US military has killed general Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran's elite Quds Force, at the direction of Donald Trump AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Protesters burn Israeli and US flags as thousands of Iranians take to the streets to mourn the death of general Soleimani at the hands of America EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Supporters of Donald Trump pray at an 'Evangelicals for Trump' campaign event held on the day following the killing of general Soleimani. At the event, the president praised the "flawless strike that eliminated the terrorist ringleader" AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A huge procession of mourners gather in Baghdad for the funeral of general Soleimani on 4 January AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Thousands of Iranians take to the streets to mourn the death of Soleimani during an anti-US demonstration to condemn the killing of Soleimani, after Friday prayers in Tehran, Iran EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iraqis perform a mourning prayer for slain major general Qasem Soleimani of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards at the Great Mosque of Kufa AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A billboard reading 'Death to America and Israel', installed by Iran-backed shiite armed groups at a street in Jadriyah district in Baghdad, Iraq EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A handout picture provided by the office of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei shows him visiting the family of Soleiman KHAMENEI.IR/AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Thousands of Iranians take to the streets in Tehran EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Pakistani Shiite Muslims burn a mock of a US flag as they hold pictures of General Qasem Soleimani during a protest against the USA, outside the US Consulate in Lahore, Pakistan EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iran's Ambassador to Lebanon Mohammed Jalal Feiruznia, looks to a portrait of Soleimani, as he receives condolences at the Iranian embassy, in Beirut, Lebanon AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures People make their way on the street while a screen on the wall of a cinema shows a portrait Soleimani in Tehran AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Aziz Asmar, one of two Syrian painters who completed a mural following the killing of Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander Qasem Soleimani poses next to his creation in the rebel-held Syrian town of Dana in the northwestern province of Idlib AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A demonstration in Tehran AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures An anti-US demonstration to condemn the killing of Soleimani, after Friday prayers in Tehran EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Mujtaba al-Husseini, the representative of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, delivers a speech in the holy shrine city of Najaf AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Pakistani Shiite Muslims burn a mock of a US and Israeli flags as they hold pictures of General Qasem Soleimani during a protest against the USA, outside the US Consulate in Lahore, Pakistan EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Protesters demonstrate in Tehran AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Pakistani Shi'ite Muslims hold pictures of General Qasem Soleimani during a protest against the USA, in Peshawar, Pakistan EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Protesters, holding a photograph of the leader of the People's Mujahedin of Iran Massoud Rajavi, outside Downing Street in London PA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Protesters burn a US flag in Tehran AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A Syrian man offers sweets to children to mark the killing AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iranian worshippers attend a mourning prayer for Soleimani in Iran's capital Tehran AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Kashmiri Shiite Muslims shout anti American and anti Israel slogans during a protest AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iranian worshipers chant slogans during Friday prayers Reuters US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A protest against the USA, in Islamabad, Pakistan EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iranians burn a US flag in Tehran EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran in Germany (NWRI) protest outside Iran's embassy in Berlin, Germany Reuters US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran in Germany (NWRI) protest outside Iran's embassy in Berlin Reuters US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iranian worshippers in Tehran AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Vehicles of the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) patrol a road in the southern Lebanese town of Kfar Kila near the border with Israel. Following morning's killing of Major General Qasem Soleimani, Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah movement called for the missile strike by Israel's closest ally, to be avenged AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iranian women take to the streets in Tehran EPA

"The goal of our campaign is to deny the regime the resources to conduct its destructive foreign policy," said Mr Pompeo, adding that the US wants Iran "to act like a normal nation" and blaming the previous Obama administration for allowing Iran access to funds under the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action anti-proliferation agreement.

When asked how the regiment of sanctions the Trump administration has imposed over the past few years — which have touched off a cycle of escalations as Iran has responded through proxies and the US has imposed more sanctions — has contributed to keeping the US safe, Mr Mnuchin replied that "we have 100 per cent confidence...that the economic sanctions are working".

"If we didn't have those sanctions in place...Iran would have tens of billions of dollars" which they could use for "terrorist activities throughout the region", he said before also blaming the Obama administration for allowing Iran access to its own money under the nuclear agreement.

Following the killing of General Soleimani, Mr Trump appeared to suggest there was an imminent threat against US embassies. But Mr Pompeo said the threat was against US troops, though he couldn't say where or when those attacks would take place.

At a press conference on Friday, Mr Pompeo said the statements are "consistent" and defined imminent as "this is gonna happen".

He said the US "had specific information on an imminent threat and those threat streams included attacks on US embassies. Period. Full stop."

The Trump administration's insistence on the accuracy of intelligence agencies' findings is a marked departure from the first three years of Mr Trump's presidency, during which his relationship with the US intelligence community has been strained at best and contemptuous at worst.

When speaking to reporters about his plan to nominate Texas congressman John Ratcliffe to replace Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats — with whom he'd clashed over Mr Coats willingness to contradict Mr Trump in public — the president responded that the US intelligence community had "run amok" and needed "strong" leadership to "rein it in".

Asked why Americans should believe the information from the same agencies Mr Trump compared to the Third Reich shortly before taking office, Mr Pompeo said he'd watched the president "rely on the capable men and women who are delivering exquisite information to the executive branch" during his time running the CIA and vouched for the accuracy of the findings supporting Mr Trump's decision to strike last week.

The new sanctions are likely to continue escalating tension between the two countries, following the Trump administration's withdrawal from a 2015 deal to curb the country's nuclear capabilities. The US already has reinstated sanctions frozen by the previous deal, which have dealt a significant blow to Iran's economy and cut its oil exports to a record low.

During a Tuesday address, Mr Trump said Iran appears to be "standing down" following increased pressure from the US.

Following a parliamentary vote demanding the US leave the country, Iraq's prime minister urged the administration to begin the process of troop withdrawal to effectively end the US military's presence in the region as hostilities continue between the US and Iran.

Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi reportedly told Secretary Pompeo on Thursday that recent US airstrikes in Iraq violated Iraqi sovereignty.

According to a statement, the prime minister pressed the secretary to "send delegates to Iraq to prepare a mechanism to carry out the parliament's resolution regarding the withdrawal of foreign troops from Iraq".

But a Friday statement from State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus suggested the US is unequivocally remaining in Iraq, and that any delegation sent to the country "would be dedicated to discussing how best to recommit to our strategic partnership" to combat ISIS in the region, "not to discuss troop withdrawal, but our right, appropriate force posture in the Middle East".