WASHINGTON (Dispatches) -- The United States has issued new sanctions on Iran, this time targeting Chinese and other companies it claimed helped facilitate the sale of tens of millions of dollars’ worth of Iranian petroleum and petrochemical products.
A statement from the U.S. Treasury Department said the Iranian Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industry Commercial Co (PGPICC) used the designated businesses to sell Iranian oil and petrochemical goods to East Asia.
According to the Treasury website, the U.S. slapped sanctions on businesses from Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates and Singapore. Monday’s move is the latest in the U.S.’s stepped-up vicious campaign to enforce sanctions aimed at reducing Iran’s oil and petrochemical revenue.
“The United States continues to pursue the path of diplomacy to achieve a mutual return to full implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action,” said Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson.
“Until such time as Iran is ready to return to full implementation of its commitments, we will continue to enforce sanctions” on the sale of Iranian petroleum and petrochemicals, he added.
Since assuming office in January 2021, U.S. President Joe Biden has imposed several rounds of sanctions on Iran, despite charactering his predecessor Donald Trump’s similar measures as ineffective.
The Treasury targeted the UAE-based Blue Cactus Heavy Equipment and Machinery Spare Parts Trading LLC, alleging that it assisted in the sale of millions of dollars’ worth of Iranian-origin petroleum products to the Hong Kong-based Triliance Petrochemical Co Ltd.
Farwell Canyon HK Limited and Shekufei International Trading Co Limited, both situated in Hong Kong, were also targeted by the Treasury for enabling such sales for subsequent shipping to customers in East Asia.
The U.S. State Department also identified six organizations that it claimed facilitated transactions involving Iranian oil, as well as oil and petrochemical goods.
It imposed sanctions on Singapore-based Pioneer Ship management PTE LTD for allegedly handling a ship carrying Iranian petroleum goods and Hong-Kong-based Golden Warrior Shipping Co Ltd for engaging in transactions related to Iranian petroleum and petroleum products.
Iran’s transactions with world countries are legal and expanding, but the unilateral U.S. measures are not. They breach a 2015 nuclear deal which Trump abandoned in 2018, but Biden claims to be willing to embrace it.
The current U.S. administration, however, is showing an unusual interest in using the sanctions as a tool of pressure.
On Tuesday, Tehran hit out at the U.S., saying its new coercive measures imposed in the midst of recent foods in Iran reveal again Washington’s callous inhumanity.
“The sanctions imposed at a time when Iranians suffered a great loss due to the recent flash floods clearly reveal the wiliness and pseudo-sympathy of the U.S. special envoy for Iran” Robert Malley, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said.
In a message released on Friday, Malley purportedly extended his condolences to the victims of the devastating floods.
Kanaani said that the current U.S. administration’s attitude towards Iran does not differ from that of its predecessor, saying Washington’s addiction to sanctions and using them as political leverage exposes the United States’ imperialistic nature.
The U.S., he said, “is not giving up on following the pointless and disastrous policy even during efforts underway to resume talks on reviving the deal”.
Iran, he said, will promptly and firmly respond to Washington’s non-stop imposition of sanctions and take necessary measures to nullify their possible detrimental impacts on the country’s trade and economy.