US Treasury Sanctions Six Companies Linked to Iran’s Petrochemical Industries

The US Treasury Department has added two individuals and six international companies associated with Iran’s oil and petrochemical industries to the Islamic Republic’s sanctions list. These companies have been accused of acting as intermediaries for financing the Quds Force’s operations in the Middle East.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Treasury Department has sanctioned four international petrochemical and oil companies for their involvement in exporting Iran’s National Oil Company and transferring hundreds of millions of dollars in sanctioned funds. These companies have been accused of financing the Quds Force’s activities in the Middle East.

Steve Mnuchin, US Treasury Secretary, said: “Iran’s petrochemical and oil sectors are the primary sources of funding for the Islamic Republic’s terrorist activities and acts of violence against domestic citizens.”

In a statement published on the US Treasury Department website, it stated: “One Iranian, one Chinese national, and six companies based in the United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong are being sanctioned due to their connection to Iran’s petrochemical industries.”

The names of the sanctioned individuals have been announced as Ali Baindarian and Zhiqing Wang. The companies are: Triliance, Zig Energy, Peak View, Jiaxing, Bentaco DMCC, and Shandong Qiawanghua.

The US Treasury Department announced that Triliance Petrochemical Co. Ltd, an intermediary based in Hong Kong with branches in Iran, the United Arab Emirates, China, and Germany, arranged the transfer of millions of dollars to Iranian petrochemical companies through Dubai in 2019 while concealing the Iranian origin of oil shipments, and also assisted in the sale of millions of dollars of oil from Naftiran Intertrade Company to Chinese companies.

The US Treasury writes that Triliance Kish, which is the company’s branch in Iran, has recently changed its name and now operates as Petro Tiba Parsian Kish.

The department announced that all assets and properties of the aforementioned individuals and companies have been blocked, and no one is permitted to conduct transactions with them. The US Treasury has also warned that any company or individual who facilitates banking and financial transactions with the sanctioned parties will subsequently face US sanctions.

Source: DW