US hits Iran with new sanctions

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

The Trump administration Friday hit Iran with new sanctions that target its largest petrochemical company for providing support to the Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The Treasury Department imposed sanctions on the Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company and 39 of its subsidiaries and foreign-sales agents. It said the company holds 40 percent of Iran’s petrochemical production capacity and is responsible for 50 percent of the country’s petrochemical exports. It said the sanctions were the result of the company doing billions of dollars of business with the Guard Corps.

The administration designated the corps a “foreign terrorist organization” last month, the first time it has done so for a foreign governmental agency. That means the U.S. can impose sanctions on any company or individual that provides a designated entity with material support.

“By targeting this network, we intend to deny funding to key elements of Iran’s petrochemical sector that provide support to the IRGC,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement. “This action is a warning that we will continue to target holding groups and companies in the petrochemical sector and elsewhere that provide financial lifelines to the IRGC.”

Friday’s sanctions are part of the administration’s “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran and freeze any assets the targeted firms may have in U.S. jurisdictions and bar Americans from doing business with them. That effort has picked up steam in recent weeks with the re-imposition of penalties aimed at bringing Iran’s lucrative oil export revenue to zero after President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the U.S. from the landmark 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.