The US Commerce Department added four companies from Israel, Russia, and Singapore to its "entity list" on Wednesday, saying they engaged in "activities that are contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States."

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They are the NSO Group and Candiru of Israel, Positive Technologies of Russia, and Computer Security Initiative Consultancy PTE LTD, from Singapore, the department said in a statement.

"NSO Group and Candiru were added to the Entity List based on evidence that these entities developed and supplied spyware to foreign governments," the department wrote, mentioning that the function of the tools was to "maliciously target government officials, journalists, business people, activists, academics, and embassy workers."

"The United States is committed to aggressively using export controls to hold companies accountable that develop, traffic, or use technologies to conduct malicious activities that threaten the cybersecurity of members of civil society, dissidents, government officials, and organizations here and abroad," added US Secretary of Commerce Gina M. Raimondo in a statement of her own.

NSO says its product is intended only for use by government intelligence and law enforcement agencies to fight terrorism and crime, including pedophile rings and sex and drug trafficking rings. It claims its software has helped save thousands of lives.

In July however, its Pegasus spyware was revealed to have been allegedly used in attempted and successful hacks of 37 smartphones belonging to journalists, government officials, and human rights activists around the world. The phone numbers that had been implicated included several Arab royal family members, at least 65 business executives, 85 human rights activists, 189 journalists, and more than 600 politicians and government officials – including several heads of state and prime ministers.

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In a statement, the Commerce Department said four of the Chinese firms, also with offices in Hong Kong, attempted to procure U.S.-origin commodities that would have supported Iran's weapons of mass destruction and military programs in violation of U.S. export controls.

The Commerce Department said two other Chinese firms were added to the banned "Entities List" because they participated in the export of controlled technology, which was then supplied to organizations affiliated with the People's Liberation Army.

The export bans come as the United States and China have escalated their trade war following difficult negotiations last week. The United States has increased tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods to 25% from 10%, while China has raised tariffs on a target list of $60 billion in U.S. imports

The banned Chinese entities are Avin Electronics Technology Co Ltd, based in Shenzhen; Longkui Qu of Linhai, Zhejiang province; Multi-Mart Electronics Technology Co of Nanhai, Guangdong province; Taizhou CBM-Future New Material Science and Technology Co Ltd of Linhai, Zhejiang province; Tenco Technology Co Ltd, Shenzhen; and Yutron Technology Co Ltd of Shenzhen.

Avin, Mult-Mart, Tenco and Yutron all have offices in Hong Kong, the Commerce Dept. said.

"We are putting individuals, businesses, and organizations across the world on notice that they will be held accountable for supporting Iran's WMD activities and other illicit schemes," Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in a statement.

"Moreover, we cannot allow China's civil-military integration strategy to undermine U.S. national security through prohibited technology transfer plots orchestrated by state actors."

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