The United States has imposed economic sanctions on Iran’s largest petrochemical’s group, PGPIC due to its ties with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)
US Treasury Dept. has confirmed sanctions on Iran’s Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company (PGPIC), given its ties with the IRGC.
PGPIC is Iran’s largest and most profitable petrochemical group. The economic sanctions will financially damage the group, its 39 subsidiaries, and its foreign-based sales agents.
Subsequently, the PGPIC-controlled NPC International in the UK and NPC Alliance Corporation in the Philippines will also bear the brunt of the US sanctions.
The move has come amid towering military tensions between Iran and the United States. The Western superpower is against Iran’s nuclear and missile programs.
The US is also wary of Iran’s war through proxies strategy in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen.
US Secretary of Treasury, Steven Mnuchin asserted that the sanctions were “a warning”.
He said, “We will continue to target holding groups and companies in the petrochemical sector and elsewhere that provide financial lifelines to the IRGC.”
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is a unit of Iran’s Armed forces. In April, the US recognised the IRGC as a terrorist outfit.
The newly-imposed sanctions restrict the PGPIC and all its subsidiaries from entering the US markets. Further blocking all property and funds owned in the US or within a US firm.
US military pressure on Iran has increased after US President Donald Trump deployed additional troops in the Middle East last month.
President Trump demands Iran’s suspension of nuclear weapons. Iran is willing to resume talks if the US agrees to “return to normal”.
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