(Financial Times-UK) Daniel Dombey and James Blitz - The Obama administration on Wednesday unveiled its widest ranging measures to date against Iran, affecting sectors ranging from banking to petroleum and shipping, in a bid to prevent Tehran from dodging existing restrictions and to encourage other jurisdictions to follow suit. The U.S. identified 22 petroleum, petrochemical and insurance groups which U.S. persons are forbidden to deal with, because of their ownership by the government of Iran. One, London-based Naftiran, identifies itself as involved in a joint venture with BP extracting natural gas from the North Sea. The U.S. Treasury Department also targeted the Revolutionary Guard's Air Force and Missile Command as well as two subsidiaries of the Guard's engineering division and Mohammad Ali Jafari, the Guards' commander in chief, and Mohammad Reza Naqdi, the head of its Basij Resistance Force.
2010-06-17 10:45:35Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive