The U.S. imposed on Wednesday fresh sanctions on nine entities in South Africa, China and Hong Kong for trading Iranian petrochemical products.
The entities are blacklisted "for knowingly engaging in a significant transaction for the purchase, acquisition, sale, transport, or marketing of petrochemical products from Iran," State Department said in a statement.
The economic penalties hit South African company SPI International Proprietary Limited; Hong Kong-based companies McFly Plastic HK Limited, Saturn Oasis Co., Limited, and Sea Charming Shipping Company Limited; and Chinese companies Dalian Golden Sun Import & Export Co., Ltd., Tianyi International (Dalian) Co. Ltd., and Aoxing Ship Management (Shanghai) Ltd.
The department also sanctioned South African company Main Street 1095 and Iranian entity Armed Forces Social Security Investment Company, as they "had knowledge of its sanctionable activities."
As well, three individuals, each of which the department said is an executive officer of one of the above entities, were blacklisted by Washington for violating the U.S. sanctions on Iran.
Those are Mohammad Hassan Toulai, the managing director of Armed Forces Social Security Investment Company, Director of SPI International Proprietary Limited Hossein Tavakkoli and Reza Ebadzadeh Semnani, the director of Main Street 1095.