The U.S. Commerce Department this week added six individuals and 18 companies to its Entity List for enabling or assisting missile or military efforts in Pakistan, Iran or Russia.

The Entity List, managed by the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), restricts exports of items to those on the list due to their risks to U.S. national security by imposing a licensing requirement. A dozen of the companies added to the Entity List, based in Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates, have been involved in, or made significant contributions to, Pakistan’s unsafeguarded nuclear and missile programs, according to the Commerce Department. 

“Efforts by companies to illicitly procure U.S. technologies in support of unsafeguarded WMD programs are unacceptable and will not be tolerated,” Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said.

Though the notice from the Commerce Department published in the Federal Register didn’t specify the exact nature of each company’s activity, BIS in recent months has been active in restricting exports to companies tied to Pakistani weapons programs.

BIS also added five Iranian and UAE entities for conspiring or moving U.S.-origin items to Iran, or for transporting military-related items on behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which the U.S. had designated last year as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO). It added two companies for procuring U.S.-origin items for Technopole Company, a Moscow-based firm placed on the Entity List in 2016 for operating in the Russian arms sector.

And it added five Iranian nuclear officials after the U.S. determined they were involved in activity contrary to U.S. national security for foreign interests.  

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tuesday during a press conference that the five nuclear officials were involved in a historic Iranian program called the “Amad Plan,” and they continue to be employed to this day. Though the program was stopped, Tehran preserved its records and its “cadre” of nuclear scientists, Pompeo said.

“Many unanswered questions remain about Iran’s undisclosed past nuclear-related activities.  These new listings...reaffirm the importance of demanding a full and honest accountability and accounting from Iran of its past nuclear weapons-related activities,” Pompeo said Tuesday.