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The US Treasury placed two Iranian business groups on its sanctions blacklist Wednesday, saying both were important suppliers of Tehran's missile program and facilitators of its alleged proliferation activities.
The Treasury, working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, said the "Dehghan Network" of Hamed Dehghan and Hadi Dehghan, had procured and supplied "military-grade electronic components" to an Iranian engineering company that works with the military and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The Dehghans work through their company Ebtekar Sanat Ilya, and a Hong Kong front company Green Industries (Hong Kong) Limited, the Treasury said.
A second group dubbed the "Shariat Network," controlled by Seyed Hossein Shariat and focused on his Asre Sanat Eshragh Company, was also blacklisted for supplying aluminum alloy products to Iranian entities already sanctioned for their missile proliferation and nuclear weapons programs.
The sanctions freeze any property those names have in US jurisdictions and aim to lock those blacklisted out of global commercial and financial networks by banning US individuals and companies, including international companies with US arms, from doing business with them.
The Treasury threatened sanctions against "any foreign financial institution that knowingly facilitates a significant transaction or provides significant financial services for any of the individuals designated today."
US must observe nuclear deal if it wants talks: Iran
Kuala Lumpur (AFP) Aug 29, 2019 -
The United States must observe a landmark nuclear deal and halt "economic terrorism" against Iran if it wants to hold talks, the Islamic republic's foreign minister said Thursday.
Tehran and Washington have been locked in a bitter standoff since last year when US President Donald Trump unilaterally pulled out of the 2015 deal that gave Iran relief from sanctions in return for curbs on its atomic programme.
Trump said Monday he was ready to meet Iran's President Hassan Rouhani within weeks, in a potential breakthrough reached during a G7 summit in the French seaside resort of Biarritz.
But Rouhani has said Washington must first lift sanctions imposed since its withdrawal from the nuclear deal, and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif reiterated that message.
"The United States is engaged in economic war against the Iranian people, and it won't be possible for us to engage with the United States unless they stop imposing a war, engaging in economic terrorism against the Iranian people," he told reporters during a visit to Malaysia,
"We spoke to the United States, we spoke at length with the United States, we reached an agreement and they need to implement the agreement that we have reached before they expect to have more talks," he added, referring to the nuclear deal.
Iran was still talking to other world powers involved in the deal, he said.
"If (the US) wants to come back to the room there is a ticket that they need to purchase, and that ticket is to observe the agreement," he added.
Trump's announcement this week came after Zarif travelled to France on Sunday for the second time in a matter of days, and held meetings on the sidelines of the G7 summit.
US Defense Secretary Mark Esper also called Wednesday for Iran to enter discussions with the US to ease tensions in the Gulf region.
"We are not seeking conflict with Iran. We want to engage with them diplomatically," Esper said.
In response to the US withdrawal and its imposition of crippling sanctions, Iran has hit back by abandoning commitments under the nuclear deal.
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