(New York) The United States on Wednesday ordered the freezing of the assets of several Iranian and foreign companies for circumventing sanctions imposed on Iran over oil and chemical sales, according to a statement from the United States Treasury.
Updated yesterday at 3:09 p.m.
These companies are accused of having allowed the export of hundreds of millions of dollars of goods since November 2018 and the reinstatement of sanctions targeting these products after the United States left the Iranian nuclear agreement.
The entities, based in Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong and Vietnam, have been added to the list of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), which reports to the US Treasury Department.
This decision involves the freezing of their assets located in an American jurisdiction as well as the prohibition for any American entity to have commercial relations with the companies concerned.
The prohibition also applies to foreign companies, themselves liable to retaliation if they carry out transactions on American territory with the entities concerned.
“Even if the United States is committed to reaching an agreement with Iran that includes a return to compliance with (the Iran nuclear deal), we will continue to use our authority to enforce sanctions on the sale of Iranian petroleum and chemicals,” Treasury Undersecretary Brian Nelson was quoted in the statement as saying.
The decisions announced Wednesday relate to an executive order issued in August 2018 by Donald Trump, who was then president of the United States.
Among the companies targeted, the Iranian company Jam Petrochemical Company, suspected of having “exported hundreds of thousands of tons of chemical products, worth several hundred million dollars”, to Chinese and Filipino customers, according to the Treasure.
Several other entities named Wednesday are front companies that US authorities say have allowed Iranian companies already subject to US Treasury measures to continue exporting chemicals.
The Treasury has also added to the list two Iranian nationals, Morteza Rajabieslami and Mahdieh Sanchuli, accused of having allowed the export of tens of thousands of tons of Iranian oil.