The United States has expanded sanctions against Iran’s petroleum and petrochemical sectors in response to an Iranian missile attack on Israel, Reuters quotes the administration of President Joe Biden as saying.

The US move adds petroleum and petrochemicals to an executive order that targets key sectors of Iran’s economy with the aim of denying the government funds to support its nuclear and missile programs.

“The new designations today also include measures against the ‘Ghost Fleet’ that carries Iran’s illicit oil to buyers around the world,” Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser, said in a statement.

“These measures will help further deny Iran financial resources used to support its missile programs and provide support for terrorist groups that threaten the United States, its allies, and partners.”

The US Treasury can now “impose sanctions on any person determined to operate in the petroleum and petrochemical sectors of the Iranian economy,” it said in a statement.