Updated 7.28pm - Sanctions were 'in the pipeline'
The United States today sanctioned 13 individuals and 12 entities under its Iran sanctions authority, days after the White House put Tehran "on notice" over a ballistic missile test and other activities.
In a statement on its website, the US Treasury listed the sanctioned individuals and entities, some of which are based in the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon and China.
The sanctions were "in the pipeline" before President Donald Trump took office, but were activated in light of recent events, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said.
"These kinds of sanctions don't happen quickly but I think the timing of them was clearly in reaction to what we've seen over the last couple days," Mr Spicer told reporters. "We knew we had these options available to us because they had been worked through the process ... They were in the pipeline."
The new designations stuck to areas that remain under sanctions even with the 2015 nuclear deal in place, such as the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and Iran's ballistic missile program.
"Today's action is part of Treasury's ongoing efforts to counter Iranian malign activity abroad that is outside the scope of the JCPOA," Treasury said, a reference to the nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.
Among those sanctioned on Friday were companies, individuals, and brokers the US Treasury said support a trade network run by an Iranian businessman, Abdollah Asgharzadeh.
Treasury said he supported Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group, which the United States has said is a subsidiary of an Iranian entity that runs Iran's ballistic missile program.
Treasury also sanctioned what it said was a Lebanon-based network run by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the elite military body that is also powerful in Iranian politics and the economy.
Iran bans US wrestlers
Iran said it had barred a US wrestling team from the Freestyle World Cup competition in retaliation for an executive order by Trump banning visas for Iranians.
The Freestyle World Cup, one of the sport's most prestigious events, is scheduled for February 16-17 and USA Wrestling had previously said it would send a team to the competition in the western Iranian city of Kermanshah.
Tehran has already announced it will stop US citizens entering the country following Washington's decision to ban refugees and citizens of seven majority-Muslim countries including Iran.
"A special committee in Tehran reviewed their cases and decided to oppose the visit by the U.S. freestyle wrestling team," Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi was quoted by state television as saying.
"The visa policy of the new American administration gave us no other option but to ban the wrestlers."