US sanctions Iranian petrochemicals, petroleum firms
The U.S. imposed sanctions Thursday on Iranian petrochemical manufacturers and other companies it said played a role in producing, selling and shipping Iranian petrochemical products and petroleum to buyers in Asia.
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), which administers financial sanctions, targeted six Iran-based manufacturers and three firms in Malaysia and Singapore in an effort to target “Tehran’s sources of illicit revenue.”
“Iran increasingly turning to buyers in East Asia to sell its petrochemical and petroleum products, in violation of U.S. sanctions,” Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson said in a statement.
“The United States remains focused on targeting Tehran’s sources of illicit revenue, and will continue to enforce its sanctions against those who wittingly facilitate this trade,” Nelson said.
The companies were sanctioned for selling and shipping the petroleum and petrochemicals on behalf of Triliance Petrochemical Co. Ltd.
Triliance was sanctioned back in 2020 for “having materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for” the National Iranian Oil Company.
The new round of sanctions comes after OFAC sanctioned 13 companies in the United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong last fall for facilitating Iranian petrochemical and petroleum sales to East Asia, including several which did so on behalf of Triliance.
Iranian petrochemical producer Amir Kabir Petrochemical Company and its subsidiary Simorgh Petrochemical Company are among the Iranian firms sanctioned, along with four subsidiaries of Iran’s Marun Petrochemical Company, which was sanctioned last year.
Malaysia-based Sense Shipping and Trading SDN. BHD. and Singapore-based companies Asia Fuel PTE. Ltd. and Unicious Energy PTE. Ltd. were also hit with sanctions.
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