Following through on Donald Trump’s move to pull America from a nuclear arms control deal, the Treasury Department announced a new round of sanctions on Iran.

Officials announced a joint effort with the United Arab Emirates to stifle payments to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which spearheads the regime’s backing of proxy groups around the region. They accused the Iranian Central Bank of actively maintaining the flow of money.

“As I said following the President’s announcement on Tuesday” that America would withdraw from the nuclear pact, “we are intent on cutting off IRGC revenue streams wherever their source and whatever their destination”, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.

The sanctions target what officials called an elaborate currency exchange network sustaining Iranian clients in conflict zones.

As the Trump administration moved to a more confrontational stance towards Iran, Israeli launched its most intensive assault yet on Iranian positions in Syria in retaliation for what its military called an Iranian rocket attack on its troops in the Golan Heights. The White House responded by condemning Iran’s “provocative rocket attacks” and upheld Israel’s right to self-defence.

The Iran deal was the centrepiece of Barack Obama’s foreign policy. In the years since its passage the world had begun to ease economic penalties on Iran as the country was certified as being in compliance.

Israel attack Iran targets in Syria: overnight airstrike in pictures Show all 10 1 /10 Israel attack Iran targets in Syria: overnight airstrike in pictures Israel attack Iran targets in Syria: overnight airstrike in pictures Missiles rise into the sky as Israeli missiles hit air defense position and other military bases, in Damascus Syrian Central Military Media, via AP Israel attack Iran targets in Syria: overnight airstrike in pictures Missile fire is seen from Damascus Reuters Israel attack Iran targets in Syria: overnight airstrike in pictures An Israeli flag is seen placed on Mount Bental in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights. Israel's army said today it had carried out widespread raids against Iranian targets in Syria overnight after rocket fire towards its forces it blamed on Iran, marking a sharp escalation between the two enemies. Israel carried out the raids after it said around 20 rockets, either Fajr or Grad type, were fired from Syria at its forces in the occupied Golan Heights at around midnight. AFP/Getty Israel attack Iran targets in Syria: overnight airstrike in pictures The Israeli military on Thursday said it attacked "dozens" of Iranian targets in neighboring Syria in response to an Iranian rocket barrage on Israeli positions in the Golan Heights AP Israel attack Iran targets in Syria: overnight airstrike in pictures Israeli artillery deployed missiles toward Syrian military targets, on the Golan Heights EPA Israel attack Iran targets in Syria: overnight airstrike in pictures Missile fire is seen over Daraa Reuters Israel attack Iran targets in Syria: overnight airstrike in pictures Air defence systems intercepting Israeli missiles over Syrian airspace AFP/SANA Israel attack Iran targets in Syria: overnight airstrike in pictures Israeli soldiers walk among armored vehicles in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights Reuters Israel attack Iran targets in Syria: overnight airstrike in pictures Syrian air defense missiles are seen in the sky over the capital Damascus EPA Israel attack Iran targets in Syria: overnight airstrike in pictures Air defence systems intercepting Israeli missiles over Syrian airspace. Israeli missile strikes fired at Syria hit military bases, as well as an arms depot and military radar. AFP/SANA

But Mr Trump has long derided the agreement, arguing it rewards a state that continues to sponsor terror and export instability in the Middle East. He found backing from congressional Republicans.

The White House accused the Iranian regime of acting in “bad faith”, citing Israeli intelligence that detailed the country’s past efforts to develop nuclear arms. Israeli president Benjamin Netanyahu unveiled those findings in a dramatic public appearance last month.

“This was a horrible, one-sided deal that should have never, ever been made”, Mr Trump said earlier in the week, denouncing the Iranian regime as “the leading state sponsor of terror”.

President Donald Trump states if Iran restarts their nuclear program there will be severe consequences

Both European leaders and Iranian president Hassan Rouhani said Tehran have pledged to continue abiding by the deal, presenting the possibility of isolating the US.

National security adviser John Bolton argued in a Washington Post op-ed that the deal “actually undermines the security of the American people”, noting that since signing the pact Iran had “poured billions of dollars into military adventures abroad, spreading an arc of death and destruction across the Middle East from Yemen to Syria”.