The U.S. Treasury Department has designated four individuals and two companies from Iran for their involvement in cyberattacks on American companies and government agencies. In parallel, the US Department of Justice and the FBI filed charges against the same four Iranians.

The capital of Iran, Tehran (file photo)

The United States has expanded sanctions against Iran. Four individuals and two companies were sanctioned for their involvement in malicious cyber activities on behalf of the Iranian military, according to a statement from the Treasury Department in Washington on Tuesday, April 23.

The cyberattacks were directed against more than a dozen American companies and government agencies and were carried out at the direction of the cyber command of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the US Treasury Department notes.

In addition to imposing sanctions on the four Iranians, the US Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) formally charged them with malicious cyber activity directed against American organizations, the Justice Department said in a statement.

Last week, the US and UK introduced sweeping new sanctions against Tehran in response to an airstrike on Israel. The sanctions included Iran's drone and missile production program, the Ministry of Defense in Tehran and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.