Trump imposes new sanctions on Iran by targeting oil company
THE TRUMP administration has hit Iran with new sanctions that target its largest petrochemical company for providing support to the Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The Treasury Department imposed sanctions on the Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company and 39 subsidiaries and foreign sales agents.
It said the company holds 40 per cent of Iran’s petrochemical production capacity and is responsible for 50 per cent of the country’s petrochemical exports. It said the sanctions were the result of the company doing billions of dollars of business with the Guard Corps.
The administration designated the corps a “foreign terrorist organisation” last month, the first time it has done so for a foreign governmental agency. That means the US can impose sanctions on any company or individual that provides a designated entity with material support.
“By targeting this network we intend to deny funding to key elements of Iran’s petrochemical sector that provide support to the IRGC,” treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.
“This action is a warning that we will continue to target holding groups and companies in the petrochemical sector and elsewhere that provide financial lifelines to the IRGC.”
The sanctions are part of the administration’s “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran and freeze any assets the targeted firms may have in US jurisdictions and bar Americans from doing business with them.
That effort has picked up steam in recent weeks with the reimposition of penalties aimed at bringing Iran’s lucrative oil export revenue to zero following President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the US from the landmark 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.
“Maximum pressure on Iran’s regime continues today,” secretary of state Mike Pompeo said, adding that the US will continue to act to “deny the regime the money it needs to destabilise the Middle East”.
Iran, in a letter to the United Nations made public yesterday, complained that the reimposition of US sanctions violates not just the nuclear deal but also the UN Security Council resolution that enshrined it.
“The United States’ unilateral nuclear as well as economic sanctions in defiance of Security Council resolution 2231 and the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action have reached an unprecedented level during the past few months,” Iran’s ambassador to the UN said in the letter.
“The United States shall bear full responsibility for the consequences of those wrongful acts,” said ambassador Majid Takht Ravanchi.
“The international community should uphold its responsibilities under the Charter of the United Nations and consider and react proportionately to the unlawful conduct of the United States that has endangered international peace and security.”
■ International investigators believe last month’s attacks on oil tankers in a United Arab Emirates port were led by a foreign state using divers on speed boats who planted mines on the vessels.
They did not name Iran, which the US has blamed for the attacks.
United Nations ambassadors from the Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Norway were given the details in a closed meeting with UN Security Council members on Thursday.
By targeting this network we intend to deny funding to key elements US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.