The Treasury Department on Nov. 8 issued new regulations aimed at more robust implementation of the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act.

These regulations expand the list of prohibited activities for foreign financial institutions to include facilitating the activities of a person sanctioned under U.N. Security Council resolutions related to Iran.

It also includes facilitating significant transactions or financial services for any person sanctioned by the United States for aiding Iran’s proliferation or terrorism activities.

The Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act, which President Obama signed into law in August 2012, mandates imposing tough new sanctions on Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which not only is the major instrument of regime repression in Iran, but also controls Iran’s nuclear program and much of the economy.

The legislation also enshrines in law that it is U.S. policy to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, escalates the level of sanctions against the regime’s human rights violators, and sharply tightens the enforcement of existing sanctions law.