Again with the Chinese company? The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced sanctions against eight entities from Iran, Singapore and China, claiming that the former were involved in the sale and purchase of Iranian petrochemicals brokered by a petrochemical company previously sanctioned by the U.S., according to the U.S. Treasury Department’s website Local Time 29.
The U.S. Treasury statement claimed that the eight entities were involved in transactions facilitated by Triliance Petrochemical Co. Ltd (based in Hong Kong) or assisted the latter in handling and transferring funds from the sale of these petrochemical products. Bloomberg mentioned that Triliance Petrochemical Co. was sanctioned by the U.S. in January of this year.
The U.S. Treasury Department also said in a statement, Iran’s petrochemical sales remain the Iranian regime’s main source of income, and claimed that these funds are used by Tehran to support “corrupt regimes and terrorist groups” across the Middle East, and recently supported Venezuela.
In January 2020, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Zhongxiang Petrochemical Company Limited and three other petrochemical and oil companies. In September of this year, the U.S. Treasury Department again announced that it had added six companies from Iran, the United Arab Emirates, and China to its list of sanctioned entities.
The U.S. has repeatedly blackballed Chinese companies before, citing ties to Iran. In May, the U.S. announced sanctions against a logistics company based in Shanghai, China, that allegedly worked with Iranian airline Mahan Air, which is blacklisted by the U.S. In response, Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said in a statement. In response, Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian had stressed at a regular Foreign Ministry press conference that China urged the U.S. side to immediately lift the relevant illegal sanctions and would be firmly committed to safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of its own enterprises.
Zhao Lijian said China has always opposed unilateral sanctions and the so-called long-arm jurisdiction of the U.S. side. For a long time, all parties in the international community have been carrying out friendly cooperation with Iran within the framework of international law, which is reasonable and lawful and should be respected and protected. China urges the U.S. side to immediately lift the relevant illegal sanctions and will be firmly committed to safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of its own enterprises.
At this critical moment when the international community is fighting against the new coronary pneumonia epidemic, the United States is still engaging in unilateralism and the so-called extreme pressure, which runs counter to the international community’s united efforts to fight the epidemic and seriously violates the spirit of humanitarianism, Zhao Liqiang said. China urges the United States to immediately change its course and correct its wrongdoing.
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