WASHINGTON (Dispatches) -- The United States has imposed a fresh raft of sanctions against, what it calls, firms and vessels that have either transported or sold Iranian petroleum or petrochemical products.
The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced the measures on Thursday.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken identified the targets of the bans as 11 firms and 20 affiliated shipping vessels, alleging they had facilitated Iran’s petroleum and petrochemical trade.
Two of the sanctioned firms are based in China, while others are headquartered in Vietnam and the United Arab Emirates, according to the OFAC.
The United States lifted some of its sanctions against Iran in 2015, following the conclusion of a nuclear deal between the Islamic Republic and world countries, including the U.S. itself.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump, however, left the deal -- which is officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) -- and returned the sanctions as part of its trademark “maximum pressure” campaign.
The administration of his successor Joe Biden has alleged interest in returning Washington to the deal. In practice, however, it has not only failed to live up to its own words but has also imposed several

rounds of additional sanctions of its own against Tehran.
“These designations underscore our continued efforts to enforce our sanctions against Iran,” Blinken added.
Speaking to Reuters, Iran’s mission to the United Nations denounced the Biden administration for “basically repeating the failed maximum pressure policy of the former U.S. government.”
The Islamic Republic has asserted that Washington’s potential return to the accord has to be accompanied by elimination of all of its sanctions against Tehran.
Echoing the position, the Iranian mission likewise said “if the U.S. wants to return to the JCPOA one day, it will be challenging for the U.S. government to lift all of them.”
Foreign Minister Hussein Amir-Abdollahian warned that the window of opportunity for an agreement on reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal will not remain open forever, urging Washington to adopt a constructive approach to salvage the accord.
In an interview with CNN aired on Wednesday, Amir-Abdollahian said Iran has informed the U.S. through mediators that the parties to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action are “on the path to reach an accord,” but warned that this might change if the U.S. side hangs back.
“Our relationship with the IAEA is on its correct, natural path, and we have said this to the U.S. side through mediators that we are on the path to reach an accord but if the Iranian Parliament adopts a new law, then we’ll have to abide by the parliamentary act,” he said.
“So the window for an accord is still open but this window will not remain open forever,” he added.
Amir-Abdollahian said, “The U.S. has been sending us positive messages through diplomatic channels but in its media remarks, they made very deceptive remarks that are totally different, and really, as the Iranian foreign minister, sometimes I have serious doubts.”
The minister hit out at the U.S. for playing the blame game and accusing Iran of not having the “necessary resolve.”