After the latest round of talks to revive Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal that the US Special Envoy for Iran Rob Malley dubbed a “wasted occasion” on Wednesday, the US Treasury Department issued new sanctions related to Iran’s oil sector.
The aim of the talks is to see both sides come back into full compliance with the nuclear deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), that the administration of the former President Donald Trump has pulled the US from.
The US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stressed that United States will continue to target exports of petroleum, petroleum products, and petrochemical products from Iran by using its sanctions authorities, absent a change in course from Tehran.
The US, as Blinken emphasized, had been sincere and steadfast in trying to reach a deal with Iran, but he blamed Tehran for failing to reciprocate that seriousness, also pointing out the designated individuals and entities that have generated millions of dollars’ worth illicit revenue supporting Iranian energy trade.
The network of people and entities sanctioned by the Treasury Department allegedly facilitated the delivery and sale of Iranian petroleum and petrochemical products worth hundreds of millions of dollars from Iranian companies to East Asia using a web of Gulf-based front companies.
Iran-based Jam Petrochemical Company is among those designated in Wednesday’s move due to the accusations of exporting hundreds of millions of dollars-worth petrochemical products to companies throughout East Asia.
Many of those oil products, according to the Treasury, were sold to Iran Petrochemical Commercial Company for shipment to China.
According to Brian Nelson, the Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Washington is committed to reaching a nuclear deal with Iran despite the sanctions the Biden administration will nevertheless continue to enforce on the sale of Iranian petroleum and petrochemicals.
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