The U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Iran’s metals sector on Thursday, a move that comes a day after it also sanctioned the captains of five Iranian ships that delivered gasoline to the authoritarian Maduro regime in Venezuela and said that he would seek “return” sanctions. against Iran if the UN Security Council does not extend an arms embargo against the rogue state of the Middle East.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the proceeds from the Iranian metal industry go to the evil activities of the Islamic regime, rather than looking after its citizens.
“The Iranian regime continues to use the profits of metal fabricators and overseas sales agents to finance destabilizing behavior worldwide,” Mnuchin said in a statement. “The United States remains committed to isolating key sectors of the Iranian economy until the incomes of those sectors are redirected towards the well-being of the Iranian people.”
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He added in a tweet: “The Iranian regime continues to prioritize financing terrorist groups over the needs of the Iranian people. @USTreasury took action today to further restrict the income of a key Iranian sector.”
The main targets of Wednesday’s sanctions are companies associated with the Mobarakeh Steel Company, which the Treasury Department produces about one percent of Iran’s GDP. He was slapped with penalties in 2018.
Among them is Germany-based Tara Steel Trading GmbH and in 2018 it sold “almost the equivalent of $ 60 million” of “metals and metal ores in Europe”. Three other companies in the United Arab Emirates, majority-owned by Mobarakeh, were also designated for sanctions. The same is the case with Metil Steel, an Iran-based manufacturer and exporter.
Three other Iran-based metal manufacturers and a Chinese company that the Treasury Department “knowingly transferred 300 metric tons of graphite to an Iranian entity” were also included in the sanctions round on Wednesday.
Tensions between the US and Iran have increased under the Trump administration. Trump campaigned to withdraw from the nuclear deal with Iran, which was a distinctive achievement of the Obama administration, and did so in 2018. The United States has sought to impose significant economic pressure on Iran through sanctions and other limits with the objective of forcing the regime to change its behavior to avoid more economic problems.
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A provision of that agreement, an arms embargo against Iran, will expire in October and the United States is currently pressing the United Nations Security Council to extend it. It threatens to impose “crackdown” sanctions if the council refuses.
“Without action, on [October]Iran will be able to buy advanced weapons systems and become the arms dealer of choice for terrorists and corrupt regimes worldwide. This is unacceptable, “Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday.
He cited former President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State John Kerry, who commented that if the United States was not satisfied with the operation of the agreement, it could unilaterally reimpose sanctions that previously applied to the Iranian regime.
Pompeo added: “The legal options in the Security Council are clear. Our great preference is to have a Council resolution that extends the arms embargo, but we are determined to ensure that the arms embargo continues.”
Meanwhile, Russia has questioned the idea that the United States, after withdrawing from the nuclear deal, can reimpose those sanctions.
And SA Mousavi, the spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, has claimed that the US pressure campaign has been a “miserable failure.”
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“The desperate movements of the United States against Iranian individuals, such as the one announced by @SecPompeo, also known as #SecretaryofHate, only indicate the miserable failure of the so-called” maximum pressure. “Despite pressure from the United States, #Iran and # Venezuela remain steadfast in the fight against illegality US sanctions, “he said in a tweet Wednesday.
But the United States says it is Iran that acted illegally.
“Since Iran has failed to comply with current restrictions or demonstrate a change in its threatening behavior, Special Representative Hook and Ambassador Craft called on members of the Security Council to extend the arms embargo,” said the State Department in a statement on Wednesday.
In recent years, Iran has targeted Saudi Arabia with drones; created a dangerous environment in the Strait of Hormuz by seizing tankers in international waters; sent a drone to a US warship; used captured American sailors for propaganda; armed the Houthi rebels in Yemen; tripled its arsenal of enriched uranium and more.
Fox News’ Bradford Betz contributed to this report.
