The US government on Wednesday ordered the freezing of assets of several companies based in Iran and other countries for circumventing US sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic in the sale of oil and petrochemical products, according to a press release released by the relevant department of the Ministry of Finance.
The companies are accused of allowing hundreds of millions of dollars worth of goods to be exported since November 2018 and the reimposition of sanctions targeting them after Washington withdrew from the 2015 international accord on Tehran’s nuclear energy program, officially the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
The legal entities targeted by Washington, based in Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong and Vietnam, were added to the list of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), which is under the Treasury Department.
The ruling involves freezing any assets they may have in US jurisdiction, as well as banning any legal entity in the US from doing business with them.
The bans also apply to foreign companies, which also face retaliation and a ban on doing business with US entities.
“Although the US is committed to reaching an agreement with Iran that would provide for a mutual return to compliance with (the JCPOA), we will continue to call on our authorities to enforce sanctions on oil and petrochemical sales” by Iran, said Brian Nelson, Under Secretary of the Treasury, according to a press release released yesterday.
The decisions announced are linked to a presidential executive order put into effect in August 2018 by Donald Trump, then US president.
Among the companies targeted by Washington is Jam Petrochemical Company, which is believed to have “exported hundreds of thousands of tons of chemicals worth several hundred million dollars” to customers in China and the Philippines, according to the US Treasury Department.
Several other legal entities were named yesterday as shell companies by US authorities. They allegedly allowed Iranian companies already subject to measures to continue exporting petrochemicals.
The Ministry of Finance also added to the list two Iranians, Murteza Razabieslami and Mahdie Sanchouli, accusing them of facilitating the export of tens of thousands of tons of Iranian oil.
Negotiations for the return of the US and Iran, which began to violate obligations it had undertaken in response to US economic sanctions, to full compliance with the JCPOA seem to have recently reached an absolute impasse.
SOURCE: APE-ME
Source: Capital
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