US sanctions 6 Indian companies for engaging in petroleum trade with Iran

ON midweek, America’s tell section proclaimed sanctions against o'er a dozen international firms, including 6 Indian companies, for trading in Iranian petrochemical products. The Indian firms will face sanctions under a 2018 Executive order signed by President Donald Trump in his first term that blocks all property held by the sanctioned entities in the United States.The move comes as part of a broader effort by the Trump Administration to cripple Iran’s energy exports, which count for a significant chunk of Tehran’s foreign exchange earnings.According to figures provided by America’s State Department, the six Indian companies did a combined $221 million in business by importing and purchasing Iranian petrochemical products in 2024 and 2025. The six companies are Kanchan Polymers, Alchemical Solutions, Ramniklal, Jupiter Dye Chem, Global Industrial and Persistent Petrochem Private Limited.Two of these companies did business with firms in the United Arab Emirates, which have also been sanctioned as have several firms based in Turkey, Indonesia and China.Earlier this month, the United States Treasury sanctioned Sai Saburi Consulting, an Indian firm registered in New Delhi, for facilitating Iran’s oil trade in the face of American sanctions. In February, four Indian firms - Flux Maritime LLP, BSM Marine LLP, Austinship Management Pvt Ltd, and Cosmos Lines Inc - were sanctioned by the US Treasury and the State Department.The measures come as part of a fresh push from Washington to restrict Iran’s revenues from oil sales by targeting the West Asian nation’s “shadow fleet” of oil tankers. The Treasury department unveiled a slew of sanctions to target an oil smuggling network run between Iraq and Iran. Action will also be taken against shipping firms based in Singapore, the Seychelles and the Marshall Islands for transporting millions of barrels of Iranian oil.According to Iranian news agencies, Hassan Abbaszadeh, the CEO of Iran’s National Petrochemical Company, announced that the export revenues of Iran’s petrochemical industry exceeded $13 billion in 2024-25. The Trump administration has devised a campaign of economic pressure in an effort to force Iran into a deal to give up its nuclear weapons program.Under Executive Order 13846, which was signed by President Trump in 2018, the American government has the power to sanction an individual who “knowingly provides significant financial, material, technological, or other support to, or goods or services” to individuals involved in Iran’s energy, shipping or shipbuilding sectors.These sanctions were unveiled after Trump pulled out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, under which Tehran had agreed to some restrictions on its nuclear program in exchange for economic benefits and sanctions relief.The US government sanctions allow authorities to “block all property and interests in property that are in the United States, that hereafter come within the United States, or that are or hereafter come within the possession or control of any United States person of the sanctioned person, and provide that such property and interests in property may not be transferred, paid, exported, withdrawn, or otherwise dealt in”.Thus far, five official rounds of negotiation have taken place between American and Iranian negotiators with Washington pushing for Tehran to give up on developing a nuclear weapons capability. A sixth round of talks were scheduled before Israeli and American military strikes on Iran, which took place in June.