Noose of sanctions tightens around mullah regime’s neck

Eslam Mohamed

The United States is continuing measures to counter Iranian terrorism with the aim of curbing the threat posed by the mullah regime to the Middle East and the whole world, as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that Washington will spare no effort to pursue any entity that helps the Iranian regime evade economic sanctions.

A statement issued by the US State Department said that the United States has imposed sanctions on the Arya Sasol Polymer Company, Binrin Limited, and Bakhtar Commercial Company, as well as Kavian Petrochemical Company and Strait Shipbrokers PTE Ltd., pursuant to Section 3 of Executive Order No. 13846.

These companies, based in Iran, China and Singapore, were knowingly involved in the process of purchasing, acquiring, selling, transporting or marketing oil products from Iran.

The State Department also imposed sanctions on a number of figures, including Amir Hossein Bahreini, Lin Na Wei, Murtuza Mustafamunir Basrai, Hosein Firouzi Arani and Ramezan Oladi in their capacity as chief executives for the aforementioned entities.

Meanwhile, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Treasury also listed eight entities due to their involvement in the sale and purchase of Iranian petrochemical products brokered by Trilliance Petrochemical Company Ltd.

Moreover, the US Justice Department filed a complaint to seek the forfeiture of two shipments of Iranian missiles seized by the US Navy in transit from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to militant groups in Yemen.

The US Navy previously confiscated about 1.1 million barrels of Iranian oil, which the United States seized from four foreign oil tankers heading to Venezuela, representing the largest seizure of fuel and weapons shipments from Iran by the US government in its history.

US Special Envoy to Iran Elliot Abrams confirmed that the Iranians have only $10 billion left in cash, after most of their foreign accounts were frozen by sanctions.

Abrams said that the severe financial distress experienced by Tehran prompted it to reduce its expenditures on its militias in the region, noting that Tehran was forced to pump $1 billion to absorb the scarcity of hard currency.

For his part, Secretary of State Pompeo stressed that these sanctions come within the framework of the maximum pressure policy on Iran adopted by the US administration.

Recently, US officials said that Iranian hackers who sent threatening messages to thousands of Americans earlier this month succeeded in obtaining data of registered voters in at least one state.

They accused the Iranian regime of sending large numbers of e-mail messages to American citizens with the aim of intimidating them and inciting social unrest before the US presidential elections.