ERBIL, Kurdistan Region-- The US imposed new sanctions on Iran’s largest petrochemical company, in an effort to stem resources flowing to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) , the US Treasury department announced in a statement on Friday.
In fiery response, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi today called the sanctions "a brazen violation of the fundamental principles of international law" that "will result in international accountability.”
The sanctions, targeting the Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company (PGPIC) and its 39 subsidiaries, are yet another milestone in a year of heightened US-Iran tensions.
The Trump administration pulled out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), or the Iran nuclear deal, in May 2018. The US then imposed a new round of sanctions targeting Tehran’s oil sector, in particular.
The US sent an aircraft carrier, destroyer groups, and B-52 bombers to the Gulf in response to an undisclosed Iranian threat last month.
Repeated suggestions of potential negotiation by both Iran and the United States have failed to materialize.
The sanctions imposed on Friday show that American calls for negotiation are “deceitful, fake and meant only to attract the attention of public opinion,” according to Mousavi.
“Only one week of patience was enough for the US president’s claim about negotiations with Iran to be proven empty. The US policy of maximum pressure is a failed one that had been several times tried by that country’s former presidents as well.”
PGPIC holds 40 percent of Iran’s petrochemical production capacity and makes up half of the country’s petrochemical exports, the Treasury said.
The company awarded engineering, procurement and construction contracts to Khatam al-Anbiya, the economic arm of the IRGC.
Khatam al-Anbiya, which is already blacklisted by the US Treasury Department, is heavily engaged in Iran’s construction, infrastructure, oil and gas, and agricultural sectors, and even its missile defense systems.
The contracts generate millions of dollars of revenue for “an IRGC economic conglomerate that stretches across Iran’s major industries,” claims the Treasury statement.
The US branded the IRGC a terrorist organization in April, the first time it labeled a part of another government as a foreign terrorist organization.
“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,” US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.
International companies that continued to work with PGPIC or its subsidiaries and sale agents would also be “exposed to US sanctions”, the Treasury warned.
“By targeting this network we intend to deny funding to key elements of Iran’s petrochemical sector that provide support to the IRGC.”
Major importers of Iranian oil, including China, Greece, India, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Turkey, were initially granted waivers to allow them time to find alternatives.
The US scrapped these waivers in April, but continued to renew Iraq’s exemption, the latest of which is valid until June 18.
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