The US had earlier imposed sanctions on Iranian petrochemical producers in mid-June.
Washington:
The US Treasury said on Wednesday it was freezing the assets of members of an international network for violating oil sanctions on Tehran by selling millions of dollars worth of Iranian petrochemical products to East Asia.
The sanctions target trillions of Iranian petrochemical firms and alleged front companies for Iran’s state-owned company in China and the United Arab Emirates, and a Hong Kong-based company already under US sanctions for its dealings with Iran.
Washington previously imposed sanctions on Iranian petrochemical producers as well as Chinese and Indian brokers in mid-June, increasing pressure amid a deadlock in talks on restoring a 2015 deal to curb Iran’s nuclear program.
“While the United States remains committed to achieving an agreement with Iran that seeks mutual withdrawal of compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, we will continue to use all of our authority to enforce sanctions,” the Treasury said. Referring to the nuclear deal, he said.
Wednesday’s announcement comes ahead of President Joe Biden’s much-anticipated visit to Israel and Saudi Arabia next week, when efforts to deter a nuclear threat from Iran will be top of the agenda.
Chinese broker Jeff Gao and Indian national Mohammad Shaheed Ruknuddin Bhore were also banned for allegedly managing business for Trillion.
All targets’ assets and interests in the United States would be confiscated, and US-based people and companies would be barred from making business deals with them.
– stalled nuclear talks –
The US State Department announced that it is imposing parallel sanctions on 15 individuals and firms based in Iran, the United Arab Emirates and East and Southeast Asia for the distribution of Iranian oil and petrochemical products.
“The United States has remained sincere and determined to follow the path of meaningful diplomacy to achieve mutual return to full implementation of the Comprehensive Action Plan,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.
“It is Iran, which to date has failed to demonstrate the same commitment to that path.”
In April 2021, Biden’s administration began a new round of talks with Iran in Vienna aimed at backing the United States into a nuclear deal, including lifting sanctions on Iran.
But the always delicate dialogue has stalled since March itself.
A 2015 agreement with world powers, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA, gave Iran sanctions relief in return for sanctions on its nuclear program to guarantee that Tehran would develop a nuclear weapon. Can’t – something he’s always denied. Doing.
But in 2018, then-President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the deal and reimposed heavy economic sanctions that prompted Iran to back down from its commitments.
Iran’s foreign minister said in June that “the train is still not derailed” in talks aimed at restoring the JCPOA despite US sanctions that month on the Islamic republic.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)