WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on Chinese and Emirati firms and a community of Iranian firms that assist export Iran’s petrochemicals, a step possible aimed toward elevating strain on Tehran to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.
“The United States is pursuing the trail of significant diplomacy to attain a mutual return to compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action,” Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson mentioned in a press release, referring to the 2015 settlement.
“Absent a deal, we are going to proceed to make use of our sanctions authorities to restrict exports of petroleum, petroleum merchandise, and petrochemical merchandise from Iran,” Nelson mentioned. “The United States will proceed to reveal the networks Iran makes use of to hide sanctions evasion actions.”
The nuclear pact appeared close to revival in March however talks have been thrown into disarray partly over whether or not Washington may take away the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which controls armed and intelligence forces that Washington accuses of a world terrorist marketing campaign, from its the U.S. Foreign Terrorist Organization checklist.
(Reporting by Arshad Mohammed, Daphne Psaledakis and Doina Chiacu; Editing by Paul Grant and Daniel Wallis)
