The U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement it sanctioned the four entities for facilitating the export of Iranian petrochemical products by Triliance Petrochemical Co., which was hit with sanctions by Washington earlier this year. Also targeted in the move was Vietnam Gas and Chemicals Transportation Corporation over its connection with significant transactions for the transport of petroleum products from Iran, the Treasury said. The Trump administration has imposed sanctions nearly daily over the past several weeks, many targeted at Iran. Analysts have said the sanctions pressuring Tehran seem designed to complicate President-elect Joe Biden’s path to renegotiating a nuclear deal with Iran. “The United States will act against persons who support illicit actors engaged in the movement of Iranian petroleum and petrochemical sales,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in the statement.

Source: The Standard December 16, 2020 16:18 UTC