US Widens Sanctions on Iran to Target Lucrative Gas Exports

(Bloomberg) -- The US’s campaign to impose “maximum pressure” on Iran’s economy now includes the Islamic Republic’s liquefied petroleum gas exports, as Washington broadens its focus beyond crude oil.

The Treasury Department on Tuesday sanctioned Iranian national Seyed Asadoollah Emamjomeh, who’s known to ship liquefied petroleum gas and crude oil from the country to foreign markets, some of his trading companies, an LPG tanker, and his son, Meisam Emamjomeh. It marks a step-up in Washington’s actions against individuals or entities involved in the trade of Iran’s non-crude energy exports.

LPG is a major source of revenue for Tehran, which uses the proceeds to fund its nuclear ambitions and support regional groups including Hezbollah, the Houthis and Hamas, the Treasury said in a statement. Tehran and Washington have restarted talks over Iran’s nuclear program, with Iranian officials asking for guarantees that US sanctions will be lifted in order to address US concerns.

China is a big buyer of Iranian LPG. The Islamic Republic was the No. 2 source for China’s imports of propane, a type of LPG, last year, according to the Energy Information Administration. The US was China’s biggest propane supplier, though that relationship is now threatened by the trade war between the two countries that’s already disrupted flows.

Washington has long targeted Iran’s crude exports. Several rounds of sanctions have impacted how the country’s oil was delivered to buyers in China, though flows appear to have recovered. China’s purchases of Iranian oil are often labeled as coming from Malaysia, with the barrels transferred between ships in the waters off the Southeast Asian nation in order to mask their origins.

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