New US sanctions target Iran’s petrochemical industries

New US sanctions target Iran’s petrochemical industries

US Department of Treasury

Analysis by PMOI/MEK

Iran, June 8, 2019 - The United States Treasury Department hits Iran’s regime with new sanctions targeting the mullahs’ vital petrochemical industry. The new sanctions come while Washington is increasing pressures on Tehran for its ballistic missiles and proxy wars across the region.

The U.S. Treasury said Iran’s oil ministry last year awarded Khatam al-Anbiya, the economic and engineering arm of the regime’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), ten projects in the oil and petrochemical industries worth $22 billion, four times the IRGC’s official budget.

The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) took action against Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company (PGPIC), Iran’s largest and most profitable petrochemical holding group, for providing financial support to the Khatam al-Anbiya Construction Headquarters.

Additionally, OFAC is designating the PGPIC’s vast network of 39 subsidiary petrochemical companies and foreign-based sales agents.  PGPIC and its group of subsidiary petrochemical companies hold 40 percent of Iran’s total petrochemical production capacity and are responsible for 50 percent of Iran’s total petrochemical exports.

“By targeting this network we intend to deny funding to key elements of Iran’s petrochemical sector that provide support to the IRGC,” said U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin.

“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,” Mnuchin added.”

Sigal Mandelker, the U.S. Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, spoke of the IRGC’s malign influence.

“The IRGC systemically infiltrates critical sectors of the Iranian economy to enrich their coffers, while engaging in a host of other malign activities,” she said.

The Treasury Department says the IRGC and its major holdings, such as the Basij Cooperative Foundation and Khatam al-Anbiya, have a dominant presence in Iran’s commercial and financial sectors, controlling multi-billion dollar businesses and maintaining extensive economic interests in the defense, construction, aviation, oil, banking, metal, automobile and mining industries, controlling multi-billion dollar businesses.  The profits from these activities support the IRGC’s full range of nefarious activities, including the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and their means of delivery, support for terrorism, and a variety of human rights abuses, at home and abroad.

The US administration on April, officially designated the IRGC as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). According to U.S. law, any American dealing or transacting with the IRGC could be charged with support for terrorism and get 20 years imprisonment.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, Senior White House Advisor Ivanka Trump and others. (AP Photo)

The following, targeted by the US Department of Treasury, are Iran-based Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company subsidiary petrochemical firms owned or controlled by PGPIC.

• Arvand Petrochemical Company
• Bandar Imam Abniroo Petrochemical Company
• Bandar Imam Besparan Petrochemical Company
• Bandar Imam Faravaresh Petrochemical Company
• Bandar Imam Kharazmi Petrochemical Company
• Bandar Imam Kimiya Petrochemical Company
• Bandar Imam Petrochemical Company
• Bu Ali Sina Petrochemical Company
• Fajr Petrochemical Company
• Hengam Petrochemical Company
• Hormoz Urea Fertilizer Company
• Iranian Investment Petrochemical Group Company
• Iranian Petrochemical Investment Development Management Company
• Karoun Petrochemical Company
• Khouzestan Petrochemical Company
• Lordegan Urea Fertilizer Company
• Mobin Petrochemical Company
• Modabberan Eqtesad Company
• Nouri Petrochemical Company
• Pars Petrochemical Company
• Pazargad Non-Industrial Operation Company
• Persian Gulf Apadana Petrochemical Company
• Persian Gulf Bid Boland Gas Refinery Company
• Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industry Commercial Co.  (PGPICC)
• Persian Gulf Fajr Yadavaran Gas Refinery Company
• Petrochemical Industries Development Management Company
• Rahavaran Fonoon Petrochemical Company
• Shahid Tondgoyan Petrochemical Company
• Urmia Petrochemical Company
• Hemmat Petrochemical Company
• Petrochemical Non-Industrial Operations & Services Co.

The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is also designating four more companies to its sanctions list. They include:

• Ilam Petrochemical Company,
• Gachsaran Polymer Industries,
• Dah Dasht Petrochemical Industries pursuant to E.O.
• Broojen Petrochemical Company

Additionally, the Treasury’s OFAC announced that:

The UK-based NPC International

Philippines-based and NPC Alliance Corporation

UAE Based Atlas Ocean and Petrochemical and Naghmeh FZE are also being designated for acting for or on behalf of PGPICC.

The U.S. Treasury statement says international companies continuing to partner with PGPIC and its designated subsidiaries/sales agents will themselves be exposed to U.S. sanctions. The Treasury urges international companies to ensure they are conducting the necessary due diligence to avoid engaging in sanctionable activity with entities that support the Iranian regime’s malign measures.