US imposes new sanctions targeting Iran’s oil exports
Sanctions will mainly target entities that allegedly facilitate the oil trade.
-
United States Treasury Department (Anadolu Agency )
The US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced sanctions against one vessel and ten businesses from China, Iran, India, and the United Arab Emirates on Thursday for breaking the US-imposed Iranian-related sanctions.
"The following [IRAN-EO13846] entries have been added to OFAC's SDN List: CLARA SHIPPING LLC...IRAN CHEMICAL INDUSTRIES INVESTMENT COMPANY PUBLIC JOINT STOCK...MIDDLE EAST KIMIYA PARS CO....ML HOLDING GROUP LIMITED...SIERRA VISTA TRADING LIMITED...SOPHYCHEM HK LIMITED...TIBALAJI PETROCHEM PRIVATE LIMITED...VIRGO MARINE...WS SHIPPING CO. LTD....ZHONGGU STORAGE AND TRANSPORTATION CO., LTD.," OFAC said in a notice.
According to OFAC, the GAS ALLURE vessel was also sanctioned by the US for breaking the imposed Iranian-related restrictions.
In a separate statement, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned that as Iran's nuclear program advances allegedly in violation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Washington will continue to speed up the enforcement of sanctions against its oil supplies.
A US official affirmed in a Bloomberg report that the sanctions will be part of a larger plan to increase sanctions on Tehran in the upcoming weeks.
This comes almost a week after the US imposed sanctions on Iran’s police as well.
The US Treasury Department charged the police with allegedly violating the rights of what they described as peaceful protesters and announced sanctions against seven senior Iranian military and security officials, including the commander of the Iranian army's ground forces.
Iran witnessed western-backed riots over the death of a young woman in Iranian police custody, which Iran repeatedly denied, while providing CCTV footage as proof, at a time when the Director General of Forensic Medicine in Tehran Province confirmed Wednesday that there were no traces of beating or wounds on the head and face of the late Iranian Mahsa Amini.
The Iranian police published CCTV footage documenting the last moments of Mahsa Amini at the police station. The Tehran police said the footage proved that the 22-year-old was not subjected to any violence or physical abuse.
