US Signals More Sanctions Pressure While Iran Faces Financial Crisis

“The United States is pursuing the path of meaningful diplomacy to achieve a mutual return to compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action,” Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said in a statement, referring to the 2015 agreement.

But Nelson said that unless agreement was reached over the JCPOA, the US would “continue to use our sanctions to limit exports of petroleum, petroleum products, and petrochemical products from Iran.”

Thursday’s move came under Executive Order (EO)13856, part of the ‘maximum pressure’ sanctions introduced by President Donald Trump on withdrawing the US from the JCPOA in 2018. The measures gave the US government powers to sanction third-parties buying Iranian oil and petrochemicals or dealing with Tehran’s financial sector.

Blocked assets

Thursday’s statement announced “all property and interests in property of these targets that are in the United States or in the possession or control of US persons must be blocked and reported to OFAC [the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control].” It warned that anyone engaged in “certain transactions with the individuals and entities designated today may themselves be exposed to sanctions.”

President Joe Biden came into office committed to reviving the JCPOA but has maintained ‘maximum pressure.’ While the Trump administration outlined a set of 12 demands – including Tehran ending all uranium enrichment and ending its missile defense program ­– it expected Iran to accept before these sanctions were lifted, the Biden administration took part in year-long talks in Vienna with Iran and other world powers with the aim of JCPOA revival.

With the talks paused since March, supporters and critics of the JCPOA in the US have both questioned what Biden aims to achieve, and whether he has a ‘plan B’ should agreement not be reached over reviving the 2015 agreement.

Iran has insisted that all sanctions introduced by Trump – including reportedly his designation of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards as a ‘foreign terrorist organization’ – need to be lifted if it is to return to the JCPOA, whose provisions it began infringing in 2019, the year after the US left the agreement.

‘Lax enforcement’

JCPOA opponents in the US have argued that the Biden administration has been lax in implementing third-party sanctions, allowing Tehran to maintain oil and other exports, especially to China. With the Ukraine crisis, Tehran is also benefiting from the rising oil prices even as Beijing has cut back its purchases in favor of cheaper Russian crude.

The latest US designation, the Treasury statement said, targeted companies and individuals in China and the United Arab Emirates working with Triliance Petrochemical Company and Petrochemical Commercial Company (PCC) in brokering the sale of Iranian petrochemicals “to customers in the PRC and the rest of East Asia.”

Triliance was designated under EO 13846 in January 2020, and PCC in 2018 under EO 13599, an order dating from President Barack Obama in 2012 allowing the sanctioning of companies owned by the Iranian government.

Thursday’s statement sanctioned Iran’s Marun Petrochemical, Kharg Petrochemical, and Fanavaran Petrochemical; Hong Kong-based Keen Well International, and Teamford Enterprises; and the UAE companies GX Shipping, Future Gate, Sky Zone Trading, and Youchem.

The Treasury also sanctioned two individuals Jingfeng Gao, a China-based broker, and Mohammad Shaheed Ruknooddin Bhore, an India-based Indian national, “for having materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or good or services in support of, Triliance.”

The government’s Rewards for Justice program announced the award on Wednesday, saying he is involved in smuggling and other criminal operations to support the Iran-backed Lebanese group.

“Qasir is also a critical conduit for financial disbursements from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF) that are used to fund Hezbollah's activities," the statement said.

According to the US government, he also helps oversee several front companies used to mask the IRGC-QF’s role in the sale of oil and other extractives, a crucial source of income for Hezbollah, the Quds (Quds) force, the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and other illicit actors.

“In addition, Qasir leads Hezbollah’s Unit 108, which coordinates closely with the IRGC-QF to facilitate the transfer of weapons, technology, and other support from Syria to Lebanon,” the statement said.

Earlier in the week, the US government’s Rewards for Justice program offered up to $15 million for information that can disrupt Iran’s IRGC and its Quds Force financial networks. The Quds Force is a branch of the IRGC that conducts operations beyond Iran’s borders.

The announcement can be seen as additional pressure on the Islamic Republic as it continues to support militant groups across the Middle East and beyond, after negotiations to revive the 2015 nuclear agreement known as the JCPOA came to a halt in March.

Motahari, who has often criticized hardliners in recent years, said in his letter that Iran “has now acquired nuclear knowledge” and there is no reason to risk international action against the country, especially a possible UN Security Council resolution.

Motahari said, “Whether we like it or not, Iran’s economy is tied to the JCPOA and the removal of [United States] sanctions” and asked Raisi “to courageously ignore the emotional mood among some hardliners demanding the removal of the Revolutionary Guard from the [US] list of terrorist organizations.”

Iran’s year-long negotiations with world power, particularly the United States came to an abrupt pause in March, as reports said Tehran was demanding the removal of its Revolutionary Guard from the US list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO). Nevertheless, hardliners dominating both the presidential administration and parliament insist that they can manage the economy despite crippling US sanctions.

Motahari went on to say that it is the Iranian people who must pay the economic price for some “irrational slogans”, which cost the country its economic development.

Motahari argued that the nuclear knowledge Iran has gained is sufficient for its peaceful purposes in medicine, agriculture, and other needs. “Why we should act in a way as to bring about the return of Iran’s nuclear file to the UN security Council” and the possible return of international sanctions, he asked. Motahari added that Iran should not count on Russia and China, as “We fundamentally do not trust them.”

The former deputy speaker of parliament argued that if the United States has labelled the IRGC “terrorist”, “We have also pronounced their CENTCOM terrorist, and our hands are free for certain actions.”

Motahari’s reference was to a decision by Iran’s Supreme National Security Council in 2019 that designated the US Central Command in the Middle East as a terrorist organization, after Washington listed the IRGC as an FTO.

“The expectation from your excellency is that you should solve this issue through the Supreme Council of National Security, as the Supreme Leader has delegated the resolution of the problem to you and the Council.”

While Motahari in his letter pressures Raisi to act, it is a well-known reality that major policy issues, such as Iran’s nuclear program cannot move forward without Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s decisions.

Motahari asked Raisi to relinquish the demand for removing the IRGC’s terrorist designation, “since our power could not overcome the opposition of the Zionist lobby.”

Danon who is now chairman of the World Likud warned that Israel is ready to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. “We hope Israel would not be the only one bearing the burden of dealing with the threat coming from Iran,” he said, “but even if it would be only us, we are ready and determined.”

Danon highlighted recent reports that Islamic Republic had a large network of agents in Turkey trying to kidnap and kill Israeli tourists.

“It's unheard of that you have a regime that is exporting violence, and they are doing it publicly,” he said.

Danon, who served as Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations from 2015-2020, was a member of the Knesset representing the right-wing Likud Party and served as Deputy Minister of Defense.

In an interview with Iran International’s television host Fardad Farahzad on June 15, Danon was asked if recent killings of individuals serving in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and attributed to Israel will not provoke retaliation. Danon did not attempt to deny the possible Israeli role in the sensational events.

“According to reports, those people who were killed (in Iran) were not innocent. They were heavily involved in destruction, promoting violence in the region. I cannot acknowledge who is taking responsibility for eliminating those threats, but I can tell you that our world is much safer when they are not around us,” he said.

At least four officers and weapons experts serving for the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) have been killed or died in mysterious circumstances in Iran since May 22. In some of the cases the Islamic Republic has indirectly accused Israel, while in other cases it has claimed the deaths were natural.

The quandary Iranian security and military officials face is that acknowledging Israel’s ability to eliminate individuals on Iranian soil is extremely embarrassing for them after insisting for years that they are invincible and in total control of events not only inside the country but around the region.

Suspected Israeli operations against Iranian nuclear and military sites as well as the killing of key individuals began in July 2020, with several spectacular operations that blew up extremely well-defended sites and the Hollywood-style assassination of Iran’s top nuclear scientist.

Speaking about the stalled nuclear talks with Iran the former UN envoy said that it was a mistake for the United States to pull out of the 2015 nuclear agreement, “but it will be a grave mistake to re-enter the JCPOA, because basically whatever happens, the Iranians will continue with their nuclear ambitions, but they would have the legitimacy of democracies from all around the world to continue to do that.”

While Republicans found more reason to criticize President Joe Biden's approach to Iran, Democrats who also sounded pessimistic continued to support the diplomatic option.

Senator Marco Rubio of Florida told Iran International's corrspondent Arash Alaei that he did not believe “a deal that is acceptable” was “possible with the current Iranian leadership,” and that “there may not be a way to keep a government that’s determined to build a nuclear capability from acquiring it …”

Rubio said Iran would “become a nuclear power, whether there’s a deal or not – I think the question with the deal is whether they’ll have more money to do it faster,” in an implicit reference to a lifting of US sanctions in case of an agreement.

Marc Rod, Washington reporter of the Jewish Insider, in tweets cited Rubio saying the administration of President Joe Biden lacked a “plan B,” referring to a back-up approach should diplomatic efforts to restore the 2015 Iran nuclear deal fail.

Malley was briefing the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee Wednesday on the Biden administration’s current assessment of efforts to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action). Year-long talks between Iran and world powers to restore the JCPOA have been paused since March.

‘No way…without diplomacy’

Both supporters and opponents of the JCPOA have in recent days suggested that Biden’s policy is failing, with JCPOA critics insisting a ‘plan B’ is now needed.

Pessimism around the chances of the nuclear talks suspended in Vienna since March have increased compared to three weeks ago when Malley testified in the Senate.

Defending the administration’s approach, Democratic Party senator Chris Murphy told Iran International that the White House had been consistent “there is no way to protect the United States, no way to stop Iran from a path to a nuclear weapon without diplomacy, without this deal.”

Murphy insisted that the current situation – with Iran since 2019 expanding its nuclear program beyond JCPOA limits – resulted from President Donald Trump in 2018 removing the US from the agreement.

‘Absolute dumpster fire’

“We all know,” Murphy said, “that Iran has been moving rapidly to a point where it has enough fissile material in order to make a weapon – and that has only occurred because of the Trump administration’s decision to blow up this deal, and to my mind we have to get back in it as quickly as possible.”

Asked by Rod how he thought the administration assessed the chances of agreement to restore the JCPOA, Murphy said: “The chances of a breakthrough are much smaller today than they were six months ago.”

Senator Chris Van Hollen, another Democrat, expressed hope to Rod that the Biden administration was still serious about diplomacy. He said that any ‘plan B’ would include a military option and “likely result in a lot of Americans getting killed.”

Democrat Chris Coons of Delaware, said to be close to President Biden said, “The new regime in Iran has refused to make reasonable accommodations to get back into the JCPOA. I think their demands at the negotiating table that are public and their actions that are public are gravely concerning and I'm not optimistic about the path.”

Senator Ted Cruz, a long-time opponent of the 2015 deal (the JCPOA, Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) and staunch Trump ally, described Malley’s briefing as “quite concerning” and called Biden’s approach an “absolute dumpster fire.”