U.S. imposes sanctions on foreign entities involved in sale and purchase of Iranian oil

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of the Treasury announced the inclusion of eight Iranian entities on its sanctions list.

As part of continued U.S. pressure on Iran, the Trump Administration has imposed new sanctions on eight entities involved in the sale and purchase of Iranian petrochemical products sold by Trillians Petrochemical Co., Ltd., which has been included on the sanctions list since January, according to a U.S. Treasury statement.

The statement added that these entities, based in Iran, China, and Singapore, participated in transactions facilitated by Trillians or helped in one way or another to transfer funds from the sale of Iranian petrochemical products.

The U.S. Treasury statement added that Iranian petrochemical sales continue to be a major source of revenue for the Iranian regime and are used to finance its agenda to destabilize the region and support corrupt regimes and terrorist groups throughout the Middle East, and more recently in  Venezuela.

Last week, sanctions were also imposed on Iraj Masjedi, the Iranian Ambassador to Iraq.

In September, the U.S. government arrested two Iranian cyber spies accused of stealing U.S. intelligence information and selling it on the digital black market.

The U.S. has also sanctioned the entire Iranian financial sector.

On Thursday, the U.S. announced that it had sold Iranian oil it had seized on its way to Venezuela for more than $40 million and would direct most of the proceeds to a state-sponsored fund for victims of terrorism.

In August, the U.S. announced the seizure of 1.1 million barrels of refined oil from four Iranian ships flying foreign flags on their way for Venezuela.