[Leer en español]
The U.S. government announced on Wednesday sanctions against two Chinese and two UAE companies for helping export petrochemical products from Iran’s Triliance, which was designated for sanctions earlier this year by Washington.
“Iran’s petrochemical and oil sectors are major sources of funding for the Iranian regime, which then uses them to support its evil domestic and international agenda,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.
Among the companies sanctioned are China-based Donghai International Ship Management Limited, which earlier this year allegedly operated a ship that transported tens of thousands of metric tons of petrochemicals, worth millions of dollars, from Iran to China as part of an agreement with Triliance.
Another of the companies sanctioned is the Chinese company Petrochem South East, which was allegedly used as a channel to make payments to firms related to Triliance.
The Treasury also accused two companies based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Alpha Tech Trading FZE and Petroliance Trading FZE, of having functioned as front companies for Triliance’s sales of petrochemicals.
As a result of these sanctions, assets that these entities may have under U.S. jurisdiction are frozen and financial transactions with U.S. citizens or companies are prohibited.
Under the Trump Administration, the U.S. began a procedure at the UN in August to reinstate all international sanctions against Iran that were lifted due to the 2015 nuclear agreement (from which Washington withdrew in 2018), arguing that Tehran has failed to meet its obligations.
On October 8th, the Trump government closed the de facto access by Iran to the world’s financial sector by imposing sanctions on 18 big banks in the Asian country, the few that had remained without being subject to this type of measure.
