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world news Diamars 2 augustus 2022

US sanctions UAE, Hong Kong firms that ship Iranian oil

(AP) — The U.S. has sanctioned a of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of
United Arab Emirates-based firm Action," also known as the Iran nu-
and several Asian companies for clear deal, Brian Nelson, the Treasury
facilitating the illicit sale of mil- Department's undersecretary for ter-
lions of dollars' worth of Iranian rorism and financial intelligence, said
oil for shipment to East Asia. in a statement.

The Treasury Department's Office of "Until such time as Iran is ready to
Foreign Assets Control on Monday return to full implementation of its
imposed the sanctions on UAE-based commitments, we will continue to
Blue Cactus Heavy Equipment and enforce sanctions on the illicit sale of
Machinery Spare Parts Trading for Iranian petroleum and petrochemi-
providing support to the Iranian pe- cals."
troleum trade.
The sanctions also come ahead of
Hong Kong-based Farwell Canyon OPEC+ meetings that begin this
HK Limited, Shekufei International week, where the U.S. and European
Trading Co., Limited, and PZNFR nations have pressed cartel members,
Trading Limited were also hit with namely Saudi Arabia and the UAE, to
Treasury sanctions. pump more oil in hopes of reducing
The latest round of sanctions target- gas prices for American consumers.
ing Iranian oil sales come as the U.S. In late June, OPEC and allied pro-
attempts to reenter the Iran nuclear ducing nations decided not to boost ment imposed penalties on two firms, petrochemical products from Iran."
agreement that President Donald production of crude in a meaningful Pioneer Ship management PTE LTD
Trump exited in May 2018. way for consumers. from Singapore and Golden Warrior In July, several Iranian companies and
Shipping Co. Ltd. out of Hong Kong, UAE-based Iranian nationals were hit
President Joe Biden's administra- The Treasury Department did not re- that it says have engaged in the acqui- with sanctions, including Iran-based
tion has been working to renew the spond to a request for comment on sition, sale or transport of Iranian pe- Jam Petrochemical Co., which has
agreement, which placed curbs on whether the latest financial penalties troleum products. exported hundreds of millions of dol-
Iran's nuclear program in exchange could impact U.S. hopes to get in- lars worth of products to countries
for billions of dollars in sanctions creased oil production from the UAE. Secretary of State Antony Blinken throughout Asia, including China.
relief, which Iran insists it has never The administration uses an Au- said in a statement that "until Iran is
received. gust 2018 executive order signed by ready to return to full implementa- Iran is nursing a battered economy,
Trump as its authority to impose the tion" of the Iran nuclear agreement, with its currency hitting its lowest
"The United States continues to pur- sanctions. "we will continue to use our sanc- value ever after the U.S. withdrew
sue the path of diplomacy to achieve a tions authorities to target exports of from the nuclear deal.
mutual return to full implementation Also on Monday, the State Depart- petroleum, petroleum products, and

No reported damage in Philippines from Chinese rocket debris

(AP) — There was no reported have also issued an advisory to the The Chinese agency announce-
damage in a western Philippine public to be vigilant, avoid contact ment gave no details of whether the Zhao said the surviving remnants
region where debris from the fi- with any suspected floating debris remaining debris fell on land or sea have "not caused any harm to aviation
nal stage of a rocket that launched and to report to local authorities im- but said the "landing area" was at 119 activities or to the ground."
part of China's new space station mediately," Talampas told The Asso- degrees east longitude and 9.1 de- China has faced criticism for allowing
reportedly fell, a Filipino official ciated Press. grees north latitude. That is in waters rocket stages to fall to Earth uncon-
said Monday. southeast of Palawan's capital city of trolled twice before. NASA accused
The China Manned Space Agency Puerto Princesa. Beijing last year of "failing to meet
Philippine Space Agency official reported Sunday that most of the responsible standards regarding their
Marc Talampas said authorities have final stage of the Long March-5B The Philippine Space Agency did not space debris" after parts of a Chinese
been advised to be on the lookout for rocket burned up after entering the receive any notification from its Chi- rocket landed in the Indian Ocean.
rocket debris, which may have fallen atmosphere. It earlier said it would be nese counterpart about the rocket de-
into the ocean off Palawan province. allowed to fall unguided. bris, Talampas said when asked if the The country's first space station,
"We are monitoring the situation and Philippines received prior informa- Tiangong-1, crashed into the Pa-
tion about potential risks. cific Ocean in 2016 after Beijing
confirmed it lost control. An 18-ton
In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokes- rocket fell uncontrolled in May 2020.
person Zhao Lijian rejected criticism
that China did not share specific in- China also faced criticism after using
formation about the falling debris a missile to destroy one of its defunct
and said its space agency issued "rele- weather satellites in 2007, creating a
vant information" on its website early field of debris that other governments
in the morning of July 31. said might jeopardize other satellites.
The July 24 launch of the Long
"The accusations by the relevant U.S. March-5B, China's most-powerful
officials and so-called experts are nei- rocket, carried the Wentian labora-
ther professional nor consistent with tory into orbit. It was attached to the
the fact," Zhao said in a daily briefing Tianhe main module, where three as-
in response to a question. tronauts live.

"The Chinese competent authority The remains of a separate cargo
has been closely monitoring the or- spacecraft that serviced the station
bital parameters of rocket remnants fell into a predetermined area of the
and releasing relevant information South Pacific after most of it burned
to the international community in a up on reentry, the Chinese govern-
transparent and timely manner," he ment announced earlier.
said. ort.