U.S. Levi Oil Sanctions on Communist China and Others

On August 2nd, the United States imposed sanctions on a total of six companies, which belong to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Singapore and the United Arab Emirates, for allegedly helping to sell tens of millions of dollars’ Iranian oil and petrochemical products to East Asia as it seeks to raise pressure on Iran to curb its nuclear program.

Four of the six companies are said based in Hong Kong, one in Singapore and one in the UAE. The U.S. Treasury Department has accused the Iranian company PGPICC of using the six companies to facilitate sale of Iranian oil and petrochemical products to East Asia, such as using mutual bank transfers to extract millions of dollars in proceeds. The U.S. sanctions essentially freeze U.S.-based assets and prohibit Americans from dealing with them, and others that engaged in transactions with the targeted firms also risk being sanctioned.

This is reportedly the third round of Iran-related sanctions imposed on the CCP-controlled companies in the past two months. President Biden has been negotiating to curb Iran’s nuclear program since inauguration, but with little success, and the assertiveness if Iran and Beijing has forced the U.S. to impose new sanctions.