The US has sanctioned several Iranian-affiliated shipping companies.
On Wednesday, December 10, the US Secretary of State announced new sanctions in continuation of the policy of maximum pressure on the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Mike Pompeo said several shipping companies involved in the "transfer of weapons of mass destruction" linked to Iran will be sanctioned.
The United States has also placed Abdul Hossein Khodri, CEO of Khodri Jahandarya Company, on its sanctions list for alleged ties to the Revolutionary Guard.
The US Treasury Department has also reported that it has placed Abdul Hossein Khodri on the sanctions list for his ties to the Revolutionary Guards.
Mr. Khodri is the chairman of the board of directors of the Khodri Jahandarya Company, which launched the first direct shipping line between Iran and Oman in 2015, with the aim, according to him, of "transporting engineering equipment and fruits and vegetables."
On Wednesday, the US Treasury not only sanctioned the company, but also placed the Oman-based Maritime Silk Road Company and two vessels, "Ganaweh 1 and Ganaweh 2," on the sanctions list in connection with Mr. Khodri.
Dubai-based GATEWICK Air Cargo Services, Hong Kong-based GOMEI Air Services, and Jahan Destinations Travel & Tourism are other companies that have now been added to the US sanctions list in relation to Iran.
Mike Pompeo said Washington has also targeted three Mahan Air ticket sales agents with additional sanctions due to the airline's role in transporting weapons of mass destruction.
At the same time, the US Treasury Department published the names of one individual and several companies, including an updated list of dozens of Mahan-owned aircraft, that are on the sanctions list.
Mike Pompeo said the companies were being sanctioned "for transporting deadly cargo from Iran to Yemen and weapons of mass destruction."
According to the explanation given by the US Secretary of State, these companies were exempt from sanctions when the JCPOA was signed, a move that Mike Pompeo described as "very wrong."
The United States had placed Mahan Air on its sanctions list since 2011 due to its "connections with the IRGC's Quds Force" and "transfer of troops and weapons."
Officials of the Islamic Republic of Iran have previously denied accusations of transporting weapons to the Syrian government and Lebanese Hezbollah on passenger planes.
The United States has been withdrawing from the JCPOA since May of last year and has imposed tough sanctions on Iran to "force Tehran to come to the negotiating table."
Mr. Pompeo said on Wednesday that he had spoken with his Chinese counterpart this week about further sanctions on Iran, adding that he had asked China not to buy oil from Iran.
The US Secretary of State emphasized that these sanctions are not against China or the Iranian people, but rather against the regional policies of the Islamic Republic.
He also mentioned the issue of prisoner exchanges between Iran and the United States, saying that he hopes that what has been done will lead to broader efforts to free other Americans imprisoned in Iran.
Xiao Wang, an American prisoner in Iran, was exchanged on December 6 for Masoud Soleimani, a stem cell researcher and faculty member at Tarbiat Modares University, who was detained in the United States.
Source: Radio Farda
