The US government imposed new sanctions on Iran on Monday against six entities involved in the country's oil and petrochemical trade.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken made the announcement, stressing that Washington remains sincere about returning to the nuclear deal, but not until Tehran commits to full compliance.
“Until Iran is ready to return to full implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action [JCPOA], we will continue to use our sanctions authorities to target exports of petroleum, petroleum products and petrochemical products from Iran,” Mr Blinken said.
The entities sanctioned include Pioneer Ship management PTE LTD, a company that manages a liquefied petroleum gas tanker; Golden Warrior Shipping Co Ltd; and four other entities that support Iran’s Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industry Commercial Company.
The US has further identified the vessel Glory Harvest, which belongs to Golden Warrior Shipping, as blocked property.
The Treasury Department said the entities have enabled “the sale of tens of millions of dollars’ worth of Iranian petroleum and petrochemical products from Iran to East Asia”.
The Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industry Commercial Company, the agency said, is a subsidiary of the conglomerate Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industry Company, which accounts for half of all of Iran's total petrochemical exports.
-
Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan with the Chancellor of Austria Sebastian Kurz. SPA -
Wang Qun, China's ambassador to the UN, waits for the start of talks on reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal in Vienna. Reuters -
European External Action Service deputy secretary general, Enrique Mora, and Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, attend the summit in Vienna. Reuters -
The Bushehr nuclear power plant in Iran. AP Photo -
Russia's governor to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mikhail Ulyanov, updates journalists outside the Grand Hotel Wien after a round of closed-door nuclear talks in Vienna. AFP -
Abbas Araghchi after negotiations come to nothing. EPA -
Enrique Mora speaks to the press outside the Grand Hotel Wien where talks were held. AFP -
Stephan Klement, EU Ambassador and Special Adviser on Iran Nuclear Issue, attended the talks aimed at reviving the 2015 nuclear deal. EPA -
Qun Wang addresses the media in Vienna. EPA -
Iran's Governor to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Kazem Gharib Abadi is returning to the 'Grand Hotel Wien' during the closed-door nuclear talks in Vienna. AFP -
The Grand Hotel Wien held a series of negotiations designed to revive the 2015 nuclear pact. AFP
Undersecretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said the sanctions will continue until Iran returns to the nuclear deal.
“Until such time as Iran is ready to return to full implementation of its commitments, we will continue to enforce sanctions on the illicit sale of Iranian petroleum and petrochemicals,” he said.
Nuclear deal talks have stalled over Iran's insistence on the removal of sanctions — some of which have been imposed against its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps — as a precondition to returning to negotiations.
Henry Rome, senior analyst and deputy head of research at the Eurasia group, said the new penalties signal a continuation of US strategy — but they may not be as effective as Washington hopes.
“Enforcement measures such as these sanctions are a continuation of the US's whack-a-mole approach towards alleged Iran sanctions violators, but it would be a mistake to view them as having a systemic effect on Iran's ability to export oil,” Mr Rome told The National.
“The genie is likely out of the bottle for now, given the US's decision not to enforce oil sanctions going back to 2021,” he said.
US President Joe Biden's administration has shied away from sanctioning China’s oil trade with Iran.
Last month, the Central Bank of Iran reported a significant increase in revenue for the financial year ending in March, with total oil and gas export revenue increasing 77.27 per cent, from $22 billion to $39bn, in 2022.
Mr Rome said Tehran appears “even more confident in market conditions that a concerted campaign to bring down its exports to Trump-era levels [2018-2020] is not imminent”.
At the same time, Mr Rome did not expect that the new measures would “poison the well” and block the revival of the nuclear deal.
“There's a deal on the table that would deliver major benefits to Tehran that it's refusing to take,” he said.
-
Russian contractors work at the Bushehr nuclear reactor site in 2007. The plant opened four years later. Bloomberg -
An Iranian technician at the International Atomic Energy Agency inspects the country's Isfahan plant in 2007. Tehran is no longer co-operating with the agency at nuclear sites across the country. EPA -
Workers wait to begin constructing a second reactor at the Bushehr nuclear power plant in 2019. AFP -
A metal-encased rod with 20 per cent enriched nuclear fuel is inserted into a reactor in Tehran in 2012. AFP -
Fomer Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and the country's Atomic Energy Organisation chief Ali Akbar Salehi speak at the Bushehr nuclear site in 2015. AFP -
Iran's Bushehr nuclear plant has been restarted. EPA -
Mehdi Abrichamtchi, chairman of the Peace and Security Committee at the National Council of Resistance of Iran, shows journalists the location of a secret nuclear site in Iran in 2013. AFP -
Workers prepare to begin the construction of a second reactor at the Bushehr site. AFP
