US issues fresh Iran-related sanctions

FILE PHOTO: US and Iranian flags are seen in this illustration taken, April 24, 2024. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

The U.S. on Thursday issued new Iran-related sanctions, targeting one individual and several entities including a Chinese "teapot" oil refinery for purchasing and processing Iranian crude oil, the Treasury Department website stated.

This is Washington's fourth round of sanctions on Iran's oil sales since US President Donald Trump re-imposed a "maximum pressure" policy on Iran in February that includes efforts to drive its oil exports to zero in order to stop Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and funding militant groups.

“The Iranian regime continues to use the proceeds from the nation’s vast oil resources to advance its narrow, alarming self-interests at the expense of the Iranian people,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent earlier said in a statement.

Trump aims to stop Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and funding militant groups.

China is the largest importer of Iranian oil. The refinery Treasury targeted for sanctions is China-based Shandong Shouguang Luqing Petrochemical Co., Ltd.

Tehran says its nuclear energy program is for peaceful purposes, while Western powers say its enrichment of uranium to levels approaching weapons-grade has no logical civilian applications.

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Iran will not succumb to pressure and sanctions imposed by Washington, the Islamic Republic's top diplomat said in February.

In 2018, during his previous term in office, Trump pulled the U.S. out of Tehran's 2015 nuclear pact with six world powers and reimposed sanctions that have crippled Iran's economy.

Tehran has since breached the pact's nuclear limitations and efforts to revive the pact under the Biden administration failed.