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The
U.S. Treasury department said it had imposed penalties on two
companies based in Hong Kong, three in Iran, and four in the
United Arab Emirates, as well as on Chinese citizen Jinfeng Gao
and Indian national Mohammed Shaheed Ruknooddin Bhore.
"The United States is pursuing the path of meaningful diplomacy
to achieve a mutual return to compliance with the Joint
Comprehensive Plan of Action," Under Secretary of the Treasury
for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said in a
statement, referring to the 2015 nuclear agreement.
Under the pact, Iran limited its nuclear program to make it
harder for Tehran to obtain a nuclear weapon in exchange for
relief from U.S., European Union and United Nations sanctions
that had choked Iran's oil-dependent economy.
Then-U.S. President Donald Trump pulled out of the deal in 2018
and restored U.S. sanctions, prompting Iran to start violating
the nuclear restrictions about a year later. Talks to revive the
agreement have so far failed.
"Absent a deal, we will continue to use our sanctions
authorities to limit exports of petroleum, petroleum products,
and petrochemical products from Iran," Nelson said.
In Tehran, Iran's deputy foreign minister for economic diplomacy
dismissed the new sanctions as ineffective.
"Our petrochemical industry and its products have long been
under sanctions, but our sales have continued through various
channels and shall continue to do so," Mehdi Safari told Iranian
state TV.
Henry Rome, deputy head of research at the Eurasia Group, said
the sanctions may aim both to raise pressure on Iran and to
blunt U.S. domestic critics who argue that U.S. President Joe
Biden has failed to rein in Iran's nuclear program.
"Washington is likely aiming to raise the costs for Iran of a
continued no-deal scenario while also deflecting domestic and
foreign criticism that it is allowing its Iran policy to drift,"
Rome said, saying that any single sanctions action was unlikely
to change thinking in Iran or China absent a broader strategy.
"Indeed, Tehran may calculate that given the state of the oil
market and global inflationary pressures, a concerted (U.S.)
campaign to collapse Iranian energy exports to Trump-era levels
is not in the cards in the near term," Rome added.
The nuclear pact seemed near revival in March but talks
unravelled partly over whether Washington might drop the Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps, which controls armed and intelligence
forces that Washington accuses of a global terrorist campaign,
from the U.S. Foreign Terrorist Organization list.
The Treasury Department named the Hong Kong-based companies as
Keen Well International Ltd and Teamford Enterprises Ltd and the
Iran-based firms as Fanavaran Petrochemical Company, Kharg
Petrochemical Company Ltd and Marun Petrochemical Company.
The two Hong Kong-based companies and Gao could not be
immediately reached for comment.
Kharg could not be reached for comment late on Thursday, the
weekend in Iran, while Fanavaran and Marun did not immediately
reply to emails seeking comment.
The Treasury listed the four UAE-based companies as Future Gate
Fuel and Petrochemical Trading L.L.C., GX Shipping FZE, Sky Zone
Trading FZE and Youchem General Trading FZE. Reuters could not
obtain contact information for them to seek comment.
All property and interests in property of the firms falling
under U.S. jurisdiction are blocked and those who deal with them
may also be sanctioned or penalized under some circumstances.
(Reporting by Arshad Mohammed in Saint Paul, Minn. and by Daphne
Psaledakis in Washington; Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu,
Michael Martina and Kanishka Singh in Washington and by Ghaida
Ghantous, Andrew Mills and Dubai Newsroom, Hong Kong and Beijing
Newsroom; Editing by Paul Grant, Daniel Wallis and Raju
Gopalakrishnan)
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