April 23 (UPI) — The United States has sanctioned an Iranian liquefied petroleum gas magnate, his son and a network of companies as the Trump administration seeks to resume talks over Tehran’s nuclear program.
The U.S. Treasury announced the sanctions Tuesday against Seyed Asadoollah Emamjomeh, 72, his son, Meisam Emamjomeh, 45, and 12 companies under their control. They are accused of being responsible for shipping hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of Iranian LPG and crude oil to foreign markets — a major source of revenue for the Tehran regime.
According to Treasury officials, Seyed and his United Arab Emirates-based British and Iranian national son operate an LPG sales, transportation and delivery network using multiple companies, including Caspian Petrochemical FZE, which has exported thousands of LPG shipments from Iran to Pakistan and has conducted business on behalf of the Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industry Commercial.
They added that Seyed also owned UAE-based Pearl Petrochemical FZE until he transferred ownership to Meisam in October. That company owns the TINOS I gas carrier, which the Treasury said attempted to load LPG off the coast of Houston, Texas, in June for sale to China.
“Emamjomeh and his network sought to export thousands of shipments of LPG — including from the United States — to evade U.S. sanctions and generate revenue for Iran,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.
“The United States remains committed to holding accountable those who seek to provide the Iranian regime with the funding it needs to further its destabilizing activities in the region and around the world.”
The sanctions come as the Trump administration and Iran have been conducting high-level talks concerning Tehran’s nuclear program.
Trump has been seeking to secure a new deal aimed at preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon since 2018, when he imposed sanctions on Iran and withdrew the Untied States from a landmark President Barack Obama-era multinational nuclear accord with the same end.
Since then, Iran’s nuclear program has advanced, with the U.S. government estimating that Tehran would need as little as a week to produce enough weapons-grade highly enriched uranium for a nuclear bomb, according to a March Congressional Research Service report.
In February, Trump signed a memorandum to restore the so-called maximum pressure campaign on Iran from his first administration that tried to coerce Iran to the negotiating table.
Trump has threatened to bomb Tehran or impose sanctions on secondary countries if a deal is not reached.
Iran’s foreign ministry early Wednesday said that a U.S.-Iran meeting has been postponed to Saturday to permit the presence of the heads of both delegations to be present.