The State Department Thursday announced six new sanctions targeting Iran’s energy exports.
The sanctions are being placed upon companies that have taken part in the transport or sale of Iranian petroleum or petrochemical products.
“As a result of today’s actions, all property and interests in property of these targets that are in the United States or in possession or control of U.S. persons must be blocked and reported” to the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the State Department said in a statement. “We will not hesitate to take action against those who try to circumvent our sanctions.”
Among the companies targeted for sanctions is one based in Vietnam that was involved in transporting petroleum products, two companies based in China and one based in the United Arab Emirates. The State Department fingered 20 vessels as blocked property for these entities.
The sanctions follow a warning from the Pentagon on Tuesday that Tehran could produce enough weapons-grade material to produce a nuclear bomb in 12 days.
Negotiations between Washington and Tehran have stalled in recent months, and undersecretary of Defense for policy Colin Kahl said this week that the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) is “on ice” and “not on the horizon in the near term.”
