Washington:US president Barack Obama says Washington will vigorously pursue enforcing new sanctions against Iran.

“We will continue to enforce these sanctions vigorously,” Obama said in a televised speech from the White House on Sunday. “We are going to remain vigilant about it.”

Speaking only a day after the nuclear deal between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries came into effect, Obama doubled down on claims that the deal has prevented Tehran from making nuclear weapons.

Iran and the P5+1 – the United States, France, Britain, Russia, China and Germany – finalized the text of the JCPOA in Vienna, Austria, on July 14, 2015.

Under the agreement, limits are put on Iran’s nuclear activities in exchange for, among other things, the removal of all nuclear-related economic and financial bans against the Islamic Republic.

Hours before the president’s speech, the US Treasury Department issued a statement, announcing new sanctions against Iran over its ballistic missile program.

The statement said five Iranian citizens and a network of companies based in the United Arab Emirates and China were added to a US blacklist.

The network “obfuscated the end user of sensitive goods for missile proliferation by using front companies in third countries to deceive foreign suppliers,” the statement said, adding that the five people had “worked to procure ballistic missile components for Iran.”

The US alleges that Tehran ballistic missile program is a threat to global security, a claim that Tehran categorically denies, saying it is solely for defense. Iran also rejects US accusations that it backs terrorism.

On October 11, Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) successfully test-fired its first guided ballistic missile dubbed Emad.

Washington slammed the test, claiming the projectile is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. It vowed to respond with more sanctions.