TEHRAN - Chairman of the top syndicate of petrochemical plants in Iran Ahmad Mahdavi has said that the petrochemical plants in are making progress and export their products to foreign states despite the harshest sanctions imposed against the country by Washington.
Several sources in Iran’s petrochemical industry rejected the recent U.S. sanctions imposed on three major petrochemical companies in the country as a “theatrical move”.
“This is not a new development, it is simply a theater show with political objectives,” Mahdavi said.
He said the three companies sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department earlier this week, namely Fanavaran Petrochemical Company, Kharg Petrochemical Company and Marun Petrochemical Company, had all previously been subject to similar American bans.
“They wanted to show they have done something new in the field of sanctions ... but this show has been repeated several times and has had no result for them,” former member of the Iranian parliament Ahmadi was also quoted as saying by the IRIB News.
Another industry source said the new U.S. sanctions will do nothing to stop the exports of petrochemical products from Iran.
“Iran’s petrochemical industry in its entirety is sanctioned and plants have to use unconventional methods to sell and export their products,” CEO of the Mehr Petrochemicals in southern Iran Muhammad Eslami said.
Financial experts say the new sanctions will also fail to stymie the flow of exports proceeds into the Iranian petrochemical sector.
Muhammad Hassan Malihi, a stock market analyst, told the Tasnim news agency that almost no petrochemical company in Iran has an account in foreign banks because of the U.S. sanctions, adding that plants normally receive exports proceeds through third parties.
Iranian government figures show exports of petrochemicals from the country reached a record of $14.5 billion over the calendar year to late March.
Last Monday, Iranian Petroleum Minister Javad Owji discussed exports of petroleum and petrochemical products to Caracas in a meeting with the visiting Venezuelan President, Nicholas Maduro.
During the meeting in Tehran, the two high-ranking officials exchanged views on mutual energy cooperation after an Iran-flagged tanker arrived in Venezuelan waters.
Owji and Maduro discussed issues related to fuel supplies as well as the export of petroleum products, petrochemical products, and petrochemical catalysts.