Azerbaijan, Baku, Jul.1/ Trend F.Karimov/
The first U.S. sanctions against Iran's auto industry take effect today as the United States has ratcheted up its efforts to isolate Iran for its uranium enrichment programme.
In his ninth executive order against Iran on June 3, U.S. President Barack Obama approved sanctions against people who do business with Iran's auto sector which the White House said was a major source of revenue for Tehran.
South Korean companies have officially announced that they will not accept orders from Iran for selling car parts to them.
According to projections, the sanctions will lead to a 40 per cent rise in production costs in Iranian car-making companies as Korean suppliers used to provide Iranian companies with 60 per cent of their needs.
They are planning to replace Korean suppliers with Chinese ones.
The imposed sanctions on foreign financial institutions that conduct or facilitate significant transactions in the Iranian rial are meant to further weaken a currency that has already lost two-thirds of its dollar value since late 2011 as a result of Western sanctions.