June 8 (UPI) — The U.S. Treasury on Friday announced new sanctions on Iran’s largest petrochemical company and its subsidiaries over its financial support to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which the United States labeled a terror group earlier this year.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control targeted the Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industries Co. and its network of 39 subsidiary companies. The company represents 40 percent of Iran’s petrochemical production and 50 percent of exports, the OFAC said.
The OFAC said the company financially supports the Khatam al-Anbiya Construction Headquarters, the engineering arm of the IRGC.
“This action is a warning that we will continue to target holding groups and companies in the petrochemical sector and elsewhere that provide financial lifelines to the IRGC,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said.
The Trump administration designated the IRGC a terror group in April, saying it “masquerades as a legitimate military organization” when it sponsors and participates in terrorist activities to bolster the government in Tehran.
“The IRGC systemically infiltrates critical sectors of the Iranian economy to enrich their coffers, while engaging in a host of other malign activities,” said Sigal Mandelker, undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.
