Page 9 - IRANRptFeb20

2.5​ ​Latest US “max pressure moves” against Iran include closing visas loophole and sanctioning petrochemical traders
The Trump administration has closed a loophole that has allowed Iranians to apply for trade and investment visas to gain entry to the US despite Iran being the main target of its travel ban—referred to as the “Muslim ban” by detractors—according to information posted on the US Visa and Immigration ​website near the end of last week​.
The US Department of Homeland Security said Iranians and their families were no longer eligible to apply for or extend non-immigrant E-1 and E-2 visas based on a treaty of amity signed with Iran before its 1979 Islamic Revolution. It added that the treaty has been terminated. Iranians currently holding and properly maintaining E-1 or E-2 status are permitted to remain in the US until their current status expires, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services added.
The number of Iranians on such visas, which allowed entry to the US to engage in international trade or to invest a large sum of capital, is not known. As it required significant amounts of money to apply through the E-1 or E-2 route, only 48,000 are thought to have applied.
Separately, in another move in its “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran to try to force changes in the country’s role in Middle East affairs, the US Treasury and State departments have announced new sanctions on petrochemical and petroleum companies in Hong Kong, Dubai and Shanghai for facilitating hundreds of millions of dollars in crude oil, petrochemical and refined product exports from the National Iranian Oil Company. According to Treasury officials, one firm, Triliance Petrochemical Co., a Hong Kong-based broker, ordered the transfer of millions of dollars in payments to National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) for Iranian petrochemical, crude, and petroleum products shipped to the UAE and China in 2019.
However, Platts ​reported on January 24​ that analysts did not believe the new sanctions aimed at shutting down illicit petroleum and petrochemical trade between Iran and China would substantially impact China's status as the top importer of Iranian crude, with over 200,000 b/d of flows expected to continue.
"With these new sanctions, the US is essentially mowing the lawn on illicit Chinese trade," Henry Rome, an Iran analyst with Eurasia Group was cited as saying. "US sanctions have thus far not deterred much of it, hence the need for frequent rounds of new action."
In recent months, a large share of Iranian oil flowing to China has been going through the UAE and Malaysia, both of which are popular hubs for ship-to-ship transfers, according to sources quoted by Platts.
A key objective of the US sanctions-led campaign against Iran is introducing even tighter restrictions on the country’s nuclear development programme than were agreed under the 2015 nuclear deal. On January 25, Iran's nuclear agency said that if Iranian authorities make the request, it has the capacity to enrich uranium at any percentage.
9​ IRAN Country Report​ February 2020 www.intellinews.com