Page 8 - IRANRptOct22

2.2 US whacks Iran with new petrochemical, petroleum sanctions as JCPOA prospects fade
The US on September 29 whacked Iran with a new round of petrochemical and petroleum sanctions.
Throughout several months when there appeared to be a real prospect of Tehran agreeing a path to the reinstatement of the nuclear deal, or JCPOA—which would curb Iran’s nuclear development programme in return for the lifting of sanctions—Washington appeared to somewhat relent on the enforcement of existing US sanctions applied to Iran’s oil, petrochemical and various other industries. However, the calculus has changed. Iran is stubbornly resisting a “final draft” of a European proposal for bringing back the JCPOA, while it has grown closer to Moscow since Russia invaded Ukraine in February. Also, the November US mid-term elections are fast approaching—both the Democrats and Republicans may want to show they can play a new round of hardball with Iran in advance of the polls. That will be even more the case should the Iranian regime respond to the now two-week-old ongoing anti-government street protests with a crackdown that takes the lives of hundreds, or potentially of even more.
"So long as Iran refuses a mutual return to full implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action [JCPOA], the United States will continue to enforce its sanctions on the sale of Iranian petroleum and petrochemical products," the US Treasury's under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence Brian Nelson said in a statement.
Outlining the sanctions, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a separate statement that the State Department had designated two China-based companies, Zhonggu Storage and Transportation and WS Shipping. The former is accused by the US of operating a commercial crude oil storage facility for Iranian petroleum, while US officials claim the latter has served as a ship manager for a vessel that has transported Iranian petroleum products.
The US Treasury Department also applied sanctions on a network of companies that have participated in what it described as the sale of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Iranian petrochemical and petroleum products to South and East Asia. The action targeted Iranian brokers and front companies in the UAE, Hong Kong and India.
"These enforcement actions will continue on a regular basis, with an aim to severely restrict Iran’s oil and petrochemical exports," Blinken said.
The sanctions move also involved the Treasury taking aim at several companies accused of dealing with Hong Kong-based Triliance Petrochemical Co, an enterprise the US has previously sanctioned. India-based petrochemical company Tibalaji Petrochem Private Limited purchased millions of dollars of Triliance-brokered products for shipment to China, it said. Another Treasury accusation is that UAE-based Clara Shipping LLC was paid millions of dollars by Triliance, via front companies, in freight charges for shipping Iranian petrochemical and petroleum products to East Asia.
Also designated over commercial arrangements with Triliance were Iran-based Iran Chemical Industries Investment Company and Middle East Kimiya Pars
8 IRAN Country Report October 2022 www.intellinews.com