For the first time, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control has imposed sanctions on an Indian firm Tibalaji Petrochem Private Limited for reselling petrochemical products, imported from sanction-rigged Iran.
“The Mumbai-based petrochemical firm Tibalaji Petrochem Private Limited has purchased millions of dollars worth of Triliance-brokered petrochemical products, including methanol and base oil, for onward shipment to China,” said US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control in a release on September 29.
“The United States is committed to severely restricting Iran’s illicit oil and petrochemical sales,” said Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E Nelson.
The US has sanctioned several other firms and also accused Tibalaji of its commercial linkages with Triliance Petrochemical Co. Ltd, which is sanctioned by the US.
India-based petrochemical company Tibalaji Petrochem Private Limited has purchased millions of dollars worth of petrochemical products, including methanol and base oil, for onward shipment to China.
The Trump administration in the US walked out of the JCPOA or Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with Iran in 2019. India stopped oil imports from sanction-rigged Iran in mid-2019.
Prior to the sanction, Iran has been a traditional supplier of crude oil to India. Indian refineries as well as oil merchants have several advantages in buying oil from Iran. It was estimated that Iran sold about 620,000 barrels of oil per day to India.
“As Iran continues to accelerate its nuclear program in violation of the JCPOA, we will continue to accelerate our enforcement of sanctions on Iran’s petroleum and petrochemical sales under authorities that would be removed under the JCPOA,” reads the statement from the US Treasury.
The Department of the Treasury’s announcement of sanction was made just after External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s visit to the US.