This Week in Iran Policy

Office of the Spokesperson

“The United States has been clear about our expectations. We’ve been clear about our goals. We ask the Islamic Republic of Iran to behave like a normal nation. We’re happy to engage in conversations with them when the time is right, but the conditions that suggest somehow we give a bunch of money to the Iranians so they can foment terror around the world is simply ludicrous. It’s just not how this administration behaves.”

– Secretary Pompeo, Remarks to the Press, June 24, 2020

 

THE UNITED STATES IMPOSES SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO IRAN’S METAL INDUSTRY, JUNE 25

• The Iranian regime uses revenue it receives from the export of metals to provide funding for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, and other malign activities in the Middle East, and beyond. Today, as part of our maximum pressure campaign, the United States designated eight entities connected with Iran’s metal industry and designated an entity that transferred a material to Iran that is critical to Tehran’s metal plants.
• Specifically, the United States designated Tara Steel Trading GMBH, Metil Steel, Pacific Steel FZE, Better Future General Trading Co. LLC, Tuka Metal Trading DMCC, South Aluminum Company, Sirjan Jahan Steel Company, and Iran Central Iron Ore Company pursuant to section 1(a) of Executive Order (E.O.) 13871, and added them to the List of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN List). These entities were designated for their affiliation to Iranian entity Mobarakeh Steel Company, whose property and interests in property are currently blocked pursuant to E.O. 13871, and/or for operating in the iron, steel, and aluminum sectors of Iran.
• The United States also designated Global Industrial and Engineering Supply Ltd. pursuant to section 1245 of the Iran Freedom and Counter-Proliferation Act. In 2019, Global Industrial and  Engineering Supply Ltd., an entity based in mainland China and Hong Kong, knowingly transferred 300 metric tons of graphite to the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL), an Iranian entity on the SDN List, as a part of shipping this graphite to Iran. Graphite is a critical material for Iran’s metals industry. Today, we reiterate that any person doing business with IRISL or conducting prohibited transfers of graphite to Iran risks sanctions.
• Today’s important actions block the property and interests in property of these sanctioned entities and deny them access to the U.S. financial system. We will continue to exert maximum pressure on Iran until the regime decides to start behaving like a normal country.

SANCTIONS ON IRANIAN TANKER CAPTAINS FOR ASSISTANCE TO MADURO’S ILLEGITIMATE REGIME, JUNE 24

• The United States, under Executive Order 13599, sanctioned five Iranian ship captains, who delivered approximately 1.5 million barrels of Iranian gasoline and related components to Venezuela in support of the illegitimate Maduro regime. These individuals who headed five Iranian-flagged tankers – CLAVEL, PETUNIA, FORTUNE, FOREST, and FAXON – to Venezuela’s shores are now added to the List of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN List) maintained by the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.
• The rogue regimes in Caracas and Tehran are unified by their penchant for repressing their people, corruption, self-enrichment, and gross mismanagement of their peoples’ wealth. The Maduro regime has mismanaged Venezuela’s abundant natural resources to the point that it must import gasoline from Iran, and Maduro’s claims of equal and fair gasoline distribution are fooling no one. Iran’s continued support to Venezuela is yet another instance of Iran wasting its people’s resources on ill-conceived foreign adventurism that prolongs suffering abroad. The only solution to Venezuela’s problems is a democratic transition that restores freedom and prosperity.
• As a result of these sanctions, these captains’ assets will be blocked. Their careers and prospects will suffer from this designation. Mariners who are considering work with Iran and Venezuela should understand that aiding these oppressive regimes is simply not worth the risk. Individuals and entities will face consequences from the United States if they do business with the Iranian regime, Maduro, or his cronies.

UN AMBASSADOR KELLY CRAFT AND SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR IRAN BRIAN HOOK BRIEF UN SECURITY COUNCIL ON EFFORTS TO EXTEND IRAN ARMS EMBARGO, JUNE 24

• U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Kelly Craft, and U.S. Special Representative for Iran and Senior Advisor to the Secretary, Brian Hook, virtually briefed the UN Security Council on a proposed resolution to extend the arms embargo on Iran. Conventional arms restrictions under UN Security Council Resolution 2231 are set to expire on October 18.

  Special Representative Hook noted that the Security Council should be united over its concern with Iranian arms transfers, and that it has maintained arms restrictions on Iran since 2007. He updated Security Council members on the full range of Iran’s malign activity, including its September 2019 direct attack on Saudi Arabia. Given that Iran has neither abided by current restrictions nor demonstrated a change in its threatening behavior, Special Representative Hook and Ambassador Craft called on Security Council members to extend the arms embargo.

* This article was originally published here
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