On Wednesday, the US sanctioned companies based in China and the UAE, accusing them of helping Iran export petrochemicals, as the Trump administration continues to ramp up the pressure on Tehran.
The Treasury Department said in a statement that it blacklisted four companies for facilitating the export of petrochemicals produced by an entity in Iran that is already under US sanctions.
The US also hit a Vietnam-based company with sanctions over its alleged connection with “significant transactions for the transport of petroleum products from Iran.” The sanctions seize any US assets the companies may have and block US citizens from doing business with them.
The measures are the latest in the almost-daily Iran-related sanctions being implemented by the Trump administration in its final days. In late November, President Trump’s Iran envoy Elliot Abrams said the administration will sanction Iran every week until January 20th, a promise that is being fulfilled.
Abrams insists that the sanctions are not meant to sabotage the incoming Biden administration’s plans to return to diplomacy with Iran. But the more sanctions that are in place when Joe Biden gets into office, the more roadblocks there will be to return to the 2015 nuclear deal.
I don’t see why the Biden administration can’t eliminate any sanctions imposed by the Trump administration. Why do they keep calling the latest sanctions “road blocks” as if they are etched in stone?