crude oil export ban
US President Donald Trump seems to be in a mood to play ban-ban after the tariffs. Firstly, after coming to power, he imposed huge tariffs on countries around the world. Then a separate tariff was imposed on pharma. Not only this, they also increased the fee for H-1B visa. That means Trump did all the work to show his dominance. For example, first he imposed tariff on India for buying oil from Russia and now he has issued an order to ban a total of 50 entities including some Indian citizens and Indian companies for exporting oil from Iran.
The US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Thursday imposed sanctions on more than 50 people, companies and ships involved in the sale and shipping of oil and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) from Iran. These also include some Indian citizens, who were associated with Iran’s oil business.
Why was it banned?
The US Finance Department says that together these people exported billions of dollars of oil and LPG, due to which Iran earned huge money. Iran used this money to support those terrorist groups which are a threat to America. The targets of these sanctions are the networks that transport Iranian LPG worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Apart from this, about two dozen shadow fleet ships, a Chinese crude oil terminal and an independent refinery have also been targeted.
Finance Minister Scott Besant said that we are breaking Iran’s oil export machine, so that their earnings reduce and terrorist groups do not get funding. According to the release, sanctions have been imposed on Indian nationals Varun Pulla, Sonia Shrestha and Iyappan Raja for their involvement in the transport of Iranian oil and LPG.
America freezes property
The US Treasury Department said that due to these sanctions, all the assets of these people and companies in America have been frozen. If any American or foreign citizen violates these restrictions, he may face civil or criminal penalties. It was also said in the release that the purpose of these restrictions is to bring positive changes in behavior. If the people or companies who have been banned want, they can try to get the ban removed through the legal process.