The new round of sanctions issued on Friday targets 10 individuals and 27 entities, some based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Hong Kong.
Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control inscribed Ace Petrochem FZE, and Moderate General Trading LLC, both registered in the UAE, to its Specially Designated Nationals List, freezing any of their US assets.
OFAC claimed that they are both linked to the state-owned National Iranian Tanker Company, which is under US sanctions.
Iran and the US have so far held five rounds of indirect talks on a replacement for the 2015 nuclear deal, which was derailed by the American withdrawal in 2018.
However, the negotiations have faced an obstacle over the US demand for Iran to stop enriching uranium under any new agreement.
