WASHINGTON, July 2, (Agencies): President Barack Obama on Thursday signed into law the toughest ever US sanctions on Iran, which he said would strike at Tehran’s capacity to finance its nuclear program and deepen its isolation.
The measures, on top of new UN Security Council and European sanctions, aim to choke off Iran’s access to imports of refined petroleum products like gasoline and jet fuel and curb its access to the international banking system.
“With these sanctions — along with others — we are striking at the heart of the Iranian government’s ability to fund and develop its nuclear programs,” Obama said at a White House ceremony, before signing the sanctions into law.
“We are showing the Iranian government that its actions have consequences, and if it persists, the pressure will continue to mount, and its isolation will continue to deepen.
“There should be no doubt — the United States and the international community are determined to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.”
The US Senate and House of Representatives approved the legislation — which backers described as the toughest ever unilateral US sanctions against the Islamic republic — by crushing 99-0 and 408-8 margins last week.

The United States spent months assembling an international coalition for new United Nations Security Council sanctions on Iran, which passed last month.
The measures, the fourth such set of UN penalties levied on Iran, are meant to punish Tehran for refusing to halt its uranium enrichment work, the most sensitive part of its atomic drive.
In response, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Monday he would postpone nuclear talks as a “penalty” to world powers as a result of the latest UN sanctions.
The new US sanctions are effectively designed to force foreign firms to chose whether to do business with Iran or the United States.
The law shuts US markets to firms that provide Iran with refined petroleum products that the oil-rich nation must import to meet demand because of a weak domestic refining capability.
It also takes aim at firms that invest in Iran’s energy sector, including non-US companies that provide financing, insurance, or shipping services.
It could also see non-US banks doing business with certain blacklisted Iranian entities — including Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and several banks — shut out of the US financial system.
Some foreign companies have already begun to sever ties with Iran because of the new law.
But observers, though, have questioned how successful the new law, and similar measures being adopted in Europe, and by other close US allies will be, given that Iran has been looking for other sources of supplies.

Obama noted that Iran had spurned the offer of dialogue that he had made last year on coming to office.
“To date, Iran has chosen the path of defiance,” he said.
“That is why we have steadily built a broader and deeper coalition of nations to pressure the Iranian government.”
World powers led by Washington have accused the Islamic Republic of seeking to build nuclear weapons and are demanding it freeze its uranium enrichment activity, which can be a key step towards developing an atomic arsenal.
Iran denies its nuclear program has a military use.
“The government of Iran still has a choice,” Obama said in the prepared remarks.
“The door to diplomacy remains open. Iran can prove that its intentions are peaceful. It can meet its obligations under the (Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty) and achieve the security and prosperity worthy of a great nation.”
Democratic congressman Howard Berman, one of the architects of the new US sanctions package, said he hoped it would provide Obama “with the tools he needs to persuade Tehran to permanently abandon its nuclear weapons program.”
The new sanctions are designed to hurt Iran where it is most vulnerable — it’s energy sector. The world’s fifth-largest oil producer lacks sufficient refining capacity and imports up to 40 percent of its gasoline needs.
Recognizing its vulnerability, Iran has drawn up plans to become self-sufficient in gasoline output within two years while reducing domestic demand, partly through phasing out government subsidies.
Meanwhile, underwriters from London’s marine insurance market are looking at how to comply with fresh sanctions being imposed on Iran, a senior Lloyd’s Market Association (LMA) official said on Friday.
Iran, the world’s fifth-largest crude oil exporter, depends on its seaborne trade.
“The whole issue of sanctions is resonating around the market — it is a key issue,” Neil Roberts, a senior technical executive with the LMA, told Reuters.
“Underwriters have been keeping a careful eye on what is going on and they are trying to address it in their own way.”

The London marine insurance market plays an influential role in the global marine insurance industry. The LMA represents the interests of all underwriting businesses in the Lloyd’s market.
“The wider issue of sanctions and extra territorial legislation has been an issue ever since the Iranian situation arose a few months ago when they started talking about petroleum sanctions,” Roberts said.
In another development, the United States voiced concern Thursday over cooperation between Syria and Iran after reports Tehran had sent a radar system that would boost defenses against Israel.
The Wall Street Journal, quoting anonymous Israeli and US officials, reported that Iran last year sent the sophisticated radar that could help the Islamic republic detect an Israeli strike on its nuclear facilities.
State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said it was “hard” for the United States to determine whether such a transfer had taken place, but added: “We have concerns about the relationship between Iran and Syria.”
“We don’t believe that Iran’s designs for the region are in Syria’s best interest,” Crowley told reporters.
While acknowledging that all countries “have the right to protect themselves,” the spokesman said the reported radar delivery would be of concern due to Syria’s relationship with the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah.
“Our concern, obviously, in the case with Syria is the transfer of technology to Hezbollah,” Crowley said, noting the issue was “something that we do raise with Syria in our periodic discussions with them.”