US Imposes Sanctions on 39 Entities Aiding Iranian Trade

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a Security Council meeting concerning the war in Ukraine at United Nations headquarters in New York on Feb. 24, 2023. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that his department is imposing sanctions against 39 entities believed to be assisting Iranian clients in illegally engaging in trade.

The U.S. State Department’s March 9 announcement outlined sanctions against dozens of “shadow banking” entities spread across several countries that would be subjected to the sanctions due to affiliation with Iranian groups.

According to a press release, these “multi-jurisdictional illicit finance systems” give sanctioned Iranian firms access to the global financial system and let them conceal their business dealings with overseas clients.

The sanctions will be carried out by the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and will display the United States’ commitment to enforcing sanctions on the Iranian government and disrupting the overseas networks that it uses to get around the sanctions, the release said.

Front Companies Used

In order to facilitate commerce on behalf of their Iranian clients and assist them in avoiding U.S. sanctions, Iranian currency exchange businesses establish front companies abroad. The Iranian government has made tens of billions of dollars from businesses using these networks in a range of industries.

The U.S. State Department asserted that they plan to keep up its efforts to thwart attempts to circumvent its sanctions.

The Treasury Department cited the Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industry Commercial Co. (PGPICC) and Triliance Petrochemical Co., Ltd. (Triliance) as two of the organizations being used to obfuscate United States trade sanctions.

“Iran cultivates complex sanctions evasion networks where foreign buyers, exchange houses, and dozens of front companies cooperatively help sanctioned Iranian companies to continue to trade,” said Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo, according to the Department of Tereasury’s press release.

“Today’s action demonstrates the United States’ commitment to enforcing our sanctions and our ability to disrupt Iran’s foreign financial networks, which it uses to launder funds.”

Iranian Presence in Latin America

Iran has been in the headlines in recent days since it was discovered that they have docked warships off the coast of Brazil, as The Epoch Times previously reported.

People rest while the Iranian warship IRIS Makran sails on the coast of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Feb. 27, 2023. (Carl De Souza/AFP via Getty Images)

The event, which took place between Feb. 26 and March 4 and sparked controversy among democratic nations in the region.

The presence of the warships, according to political and security sources, is a result of a new wave of leftist politicians that has swept across Latin America in recent years, including Brazil’s new president.

According to commentators, Iran appears to be delivering on its promise to moor warships in the Panama Canal by the end of 2023.

Brazil’s former minister of foreign affairs, Ernesto Araujo, told The Epoch Times, “The big picture here doesn’t look good.”