Using counterterrorism authorities, the United States sanctioned the Iranian Petroleum Ministry, the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), and a NIOC subsidiary that manages Iran's oil tankers. The sanctions also targeted a number of front companies, subsidiaries, and individuals associated with these entities, as well as Iranian Oil Minister Bijan N. Zanganeh, and four people involved in transporting Iranian gasoline to Venezuela. U.S. officials accuse these entities of providing financial support to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). While many of the companies and individuals had previously been sanctioned under different authorities, the new sanctions explicitly link Iran's petroleum sector to terrorism and the IRGC. Analysts speculate that such sanctions carry more political and symbolic weight and would be more difficult to unwind in the future.

Brigadier General Ghader Rahimzadeh announced Iran's plans to launch the Modafean Aseman Velayat military exercise, which will focus on the country's air defense capabilities. The Iranian Air Force, Air Defense Force, and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force will participate in the exercise. Under operational guidance from Iran's Air Defense Force, the exercise will test the country's defenses against low, medium, and high altitude and long range air threats, using missile systems, radar, reconnaissance information systems, communication systems, and surveillance networks. According to Rahimzadeh, the Iranian Air Force will test "all kinds of interceptor, bomber, and unmanned fighter jets" during the exercise.

A United Nations arms embargo on Iran has expired as planned under the nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers. The end of the embargo enables Iran to import and export conventional weapons under international law. However, the United States claims that the embargo remains in effect because U.S. diplomats triggered the "snapback" provision of the nuclear agreement under which all previous international sanctions on Iran, including the arms embargo, are reinstated. The U.N. Security Council rejected U.S. standing to trigger snapback and voted against an extension of the arms embargo. The United States has threaten to sanction any person or company that sell weapons to Iran. In 2019, a U.S. intelligence agency reported that Iran might seek to purchase Russian Su-30 fighter jets, Yak-130 trainer aircraft, and T-90 tanks as well as the Russian S-400 anti-aircraft missile system and Bastian coastal defense system.

Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), assesses that Iran has yet to amass a "significant quantity" of enriched uranium, which he defined as "the minimum amount of enriched uranium or plutonium needed to make an atomic bomb." However, he noted that Iran continues to accumulate enriched uranium "to a much higher degree than they have committed themselves to" under the 2015 nuclear agreement.