New U.S. sanctions imposed Friday target Iran's petrochemical industry, including the country's largest petrochemical holding group over its financial support for Tehran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Treasury Department said in a statement.
The Treasury Department said the sanctions will apply to the Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company and 39 of its subsidiaries and foreign sales agents. It says the company holds 40% of Iran's petrochemical production capacity and is responsible for 50% of the country's total petrochemical exports. Treasury said the companies have done billions of dollars of business with the IRGC, which the administration designated a "foreign terrorist organization" last month.
"By targeting this network we intend to deny funding to key elements of Iran’s petrochemical sector that provide support to the IRGC," said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
The Treasury statement said Iran's Oil Ministry last year awarded the IRGC’s Khatam al-Anbiya, the IRGC's economic and engineering arm, 10 projects in oil and petrochemical industries worth $22 billion, four times the official budget of the IRGC.
The 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.
Agencies
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