In an effort by US President Joe Biden's administration to increase pressure on Tehran just before the seventh round of the Vienna negotiations on its nuclear program,

scheduled indefinitely next November amid Iranian stalling, Washington announced new Iran - related sanctions targeting its marching aircraft program that it said were destabilizing the Middle East, as well as 4 people linked to the Revolutionary Guard.

In a statement, the United States Department of the Treasury said that Iranian Revolutionary Guards had provided Lebanese Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis and Ethiopia with marching aircraft used to attack American forces and international navigation in the Gulf region.

The US Treasury added: "Deadly marching planes used in attacks against international ships and American soldiers."

Every now and then, the United States imposes sanctions on Iran, most recently in August, against individuals and entities smuggling oil for Iran.

Last June, Washington imposed Iran - related sanctions on members of a network assisting the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and the Houthis in Yemen.

The Treasury Department said at the time that it had imposed sanctions on entities and individuals, including Saeed Jamal, who runs an illegal oil network from Iran to finance the Houthis and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

The Ministry noted that "this network, led by the Iranian-based Houthi financier Said Jamal, generates millions of dollars from the sale of raw materials such as Iranian oil."

She added that "a large part (of these proceeds) is then redirected through a complex network of intermediaries and exchanges in several States to the Houthis in Yemen."

The US sanctions are a symbolic and politically significant step by the Biden administration just before negotiations begin, and "no Iranian reaction is expected to go beyond media statements."