Iran Strongly Condemns US’ Petrochemical Sanctions

In a Saturday statement, Mousavi described the sanctions as an instance of economic terrorism and part of the White House’s constant hostilities towards the Iranian nation.

“Only one week was enough to prove the US president’s claim that he seeks negotiation with Iran was a hollow one,” Mousavi said.

“The US’ policy of maximum pressure is a failed policy that had already been tested by the country’s previous presidents for several times,” he added.

Mousavi said this is a wrong path and the US administration can rest assured it will not achieve any of the goals it had it mind when implementing the policy.

He also referred to certain American officials’ calls for negotiation with Iran, and described them as deceitful and false claims aimed at attracting the attention of public opinion.

“The US’ move [to impose sanctions on Iran’s petrochemical companies] is against the basic principles and rules of international law and relations as well as the US regime’s international commitments, and will lead to international liabilities for them [the US],” Mousavi added.

“All countries have a duty to show reaction to the blatant violation of the fundamental principles of the international law, and prevent the international community’s achievements in multilateralism from being further destroyed by the US ruling system’s bullying and unilateral measures,” he noted.

US President Donald Trump’s administration has announced new sanctions on Iran, targeting the country’s petrochemical industry, including its largest petrochemical holding group, called Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company (PGPIC).

The Treasury Department in a statement on Friday accused PGPIC of its financial support for the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) and said that sanctions are aimed to choke off financing for Iran’s largest and most profitable petrochemical group.

Treasury also imposed sanctions on the holding group’s network of 39 subsidiary petrochemical companies and what it called “foreign-based sales agents.” It warned that international companies continuing to partner with PGPIC or its subsidiaries and sales agents “will themselves be exposed to US sanctions.”

“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 in the statement.

“By targeting this network we intend to deny funding to key elements of Iran’s petrochemical sector that provide support to the IRGC,” he added.