On Wednesday, February 26, the Donald Trump administration in the US imposed sanctions against six Chinese entities, citing their alleged links with Iran’s drone and missile production. The US claimed the sanctions were part of Trump’s renewed attempts to force Iran to negotiate its nuclear and regional policies.
Unsubstantiated accusations against Chinese firms
In a press statement issued on Wednesday the US State Department said that it is imposing sanctions against six firms based in Hong Kong and China accusing them of being a part of a network to supply parts for drones and missiles production in Iran without providing any evidence for the same.
Six entities targeted on Wednesday were allegedly doing business with Iranian Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) producers Pishtazan Kavosh Gostar Boshra (PKGB) and its subsidiary Narin Sepehr Mobin Isatis (NSMI). Both of these entities have already been under US sanctions.
The sanctions would constitute a freeze of US assets of the concerned firms and a ban on their transactions with any US entity.
Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran
The US State Department statement also claimed that the sanctions were a “part of president Trump’s maximum pressure campaign on the Iranian” government.
Trump, during his first presidential term had unilaterally withdrawn from the Iran nuclear deal also known as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in May 2018 calling it the “worst deal ever” and demanding renegotiation and expansion of its scope to include Iranian missile and regional policies.
The Trump administration imposed a series of sanctions against Iran calling it a “maximum pressure” campaign to force it to renegotiate the deal. The sanctions were continued during the Joe Biden administration as well, however Trump, in his second term, has accused his predecessor of failing to keep its sharpness.
Trump has since declared the relaunch of the “maximum pressure” campaign with the objective to reduce Iran’s export of oil and gas to zero to pressurize it to renegotiate the nuclear deal.
Earlier this week, it issued a fresh round of sanctions against the Iranian oil and gas industry targeting more than 30 entities such as brokers, shipping companies and tanker operators
from countries such as the UAE, China, India and Iran over their involvement in various stages of trade in Iranian oil and gas.
No negotiations under pressure
Calling Iranian oil trade “illicit,” the US State Department said in a press release on Monday that their action “represents an initial step to realize President Trump’s campaign of maximum pressure on the Iranian regime.”
Reacting to the fresh US sanctions, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi condemned the US’s continued reliance on unilateral illegal actions to pressure his country to abandon its independence. He claimed that his country will not yield to such pressure tactics and no negotiations will happen with the US under the pressure of sanctions.
The State Department’s press release also claimed that the sanction “disrupts efforts by Iran to amass oil revenues to fund terrorists’ activities.”
Successive US administrations have accused Iran of funding resistance groups such as Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Palestine and Ansar Allah in Yemen, calling them “terrorist organizations” and alleging that they indulge in “destabilization activities” in the region.
However, Iran rejects the US’s labels against the groups, instead calling them the Axis of Resistance. Iran claims those groups are its allies in the region against imperialist interventions and illegal Israeli occupation.
Iran and China condemn US sanctions
Reacting to the fresh sanctions on its oil trade, Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson, Esmaeil Baghaei, said on Tuesday that “the decision about economic and commercial interactions with countries is part of the legal rights of nations to self-determination, and no party has the right to use political excuses to obstruct or disrupt their commercial and economic relations.”
Baghaei also termed the US sanctions as illegal and a violation of its commitments under the UN and demanded that the American government must be held accountable at the international level for such violations, Press TV reported.
Meanwhile, China also questioned the Trump administrations’ “illegal action” against its companies. Liu Pengyu, Spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy in Washington said that his country “has always firmly opposed the illegal unilateral sanctions imposed by the United States and will firmly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of its enterprises and citizens,” Reuters reported.
