US pressures Iran by concentrating on Chinese, UAE firms

The United States imposed sanctions Thursday on Chinese and Emirati firms and on a community of Iranian corporations that assist export Iran’s petrochemicals, a step which will elevate strain on Tehran to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

The US Treasury Department stated it had imposed penalties on two firms primarily based in Hong Kong, three in Iran, and 4 within the United Arab Emirates, in addition to on Chinese citizen Jinfeng Gao and Indian nationwide 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 stated in a press release, referring to the 2015 nuclear settlement.

Under the pact, Iran restricted its nuclear program to make it tougher for Tehran to acquire a nuclear weapon in trade for aid from US, European Union, and United Nations sanctions that had choked Iran’s oil-dependent economic system.

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Then-US President Donald Trump pulled out of the deal in 2018 and restored US sanctions, prompting Iran to start out violating the nuclear restrictions a couple of yr later. Talks to revive the settlement have to this point 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 stated.

In Tehran, Iran’s deputy overseas minister for financial diplomacy dismissed the brand 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 instructed Iranian state TV.

Henry Rome, deputy head of analysis on the Eurasia Group, stated the sanctions might purpose each to lift strain on Iran and to blunt US home critics who argue that US President Joe Biden has didn’t 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 stated, saying that any single sanctions motion was unlikely to alter pondering in Iran or China absent a broader technique.

“Indeed, Tehran may calculate that given the state of the oil market and global inflationary pressures, a concerted (US) campaign to collapse Iranian energy exports to Trump-era levels is not in the cards in the near term,” Rome added.

The nuclear pact appeared close to revival in March however talks unravelled partly over whether or not Washington may drop the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which controls armed and intelligence forces that Washington accuses of a worldwide terrorist marketing campaign, from the US Foreign Terrorist Organisation listing.

Deputy Secretary General of the European External Action Service Enrique Mora and Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani in Vienna, Austria on Dec 3, 2021. (EU Delegation in Vienna/Handout by way of Reuters)

The Treasury Department named the Hong Kong-based firms as Keen Well International Ltd and Teamford Enterprises Ltd and the Iran-based corporations as Fanavaran Petrochemical Company, Kharg Petrochemical Company Ltd, and Marun Petrochemical Company.

The two Hong Kong-based firms and Gao couldn’t be instantly reached for remark.

Kharg couldn’t be reached for remark late on Thursday, the weekend in Iran, whereas Fanavaran and Marun didn’t instantly reply to emails in search of remark.

The Treasury listed the 4 UAE-based firms as Future Gate Fuel and Petrochemical Trading L L C, GX Shipping FZE, Sky Zone Trading FZE, and Youchem General Trading FZE. Reuters couldn’t get hold of contact info for them to hunt remark.

All property and pursuits in property of the corporations falling underneath US jurisdiction are blocked and those that cope with them may be sanctioned or penalised underneath some circumstances.