The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Washington

The United States is to announce unilateral sanctions Thursday against Tehran, aimed at isolating a critical section of the Iranian military, the Washington Post reported.

The unilateral sanctions will designate the elite Quds force a supporter of terrorism and the Revolutionary Guard Corps a proliferator of weapons of mass destruction, the Post said.

The measures, to be announced by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, will allow US officials to press hundreds of foreign companies doing business with Iran's military to back out or risk US sanctions, the Post said.

"This is a very powerful set of measures designed to send a message to Iran that there will be a cost to what they do. We decided on them because we have seen no change in Iranian behavior," an unnamed senior administration official told the Post.

It marks the first time that Washington has sought to directly sanction another country's military, and is the broadest set of punitive measures imposed on Tehran since 1979, according to the Post.

The Revolutionary Guard Corps, the most powerful wing of Iran's military, controls construction companies, pharmaceutical plants, and segments of the oil industry, according the Post.