WASHINGTON — Under pressure from Congress to demonstrate that it is not easing up on sanctions on Iran’s oil sector or on its nuclear and missile programs, the Obama administration on Thursday announced an expanded list of Iranian companies and individuals that it said it would target to block their trading activities around the world.
The administration’s announcement came shortly before Wendy Sherman, chief American negotiator on the Iran agreement, was scheduled to testify on the nuclear accord with Iran and the sanctions issues to the Senate Banking Committee.
On Tuesday, Secretary of State John Kerry came under sharp criticism from Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill, who are threatening new sanctions against Iran that the administration fears could undermine the preliminary agreement it reached to freeze major elements of the country’s nuclear program.
In return, President Obama agreed to a temporary lifting of sanctions on auto production and petrochemical sales, but not on Iran’s oil sector — its greatest source of revenue.
Critics of the preliminary deal, however, have said that reversing course on even a limited set of sanctions would undermine the pressure on Tehran, and make less likely a final deal to roll back the nuclear program.
Mr. Obama took the other side of the argument on Saturday, telling an Israeli-American forum at the Brookings Institution that unless the Iranian people saw the prospect of some economic relief, there would be no political constituency inside Iran for giving up the key elements of a potential nuclear weapons capability.
But the administration has also been eager to show that it is continuing to apply pressure on the nuclear program, on banks violating sanctions on financial transactions, and on front companies that are helping Iran evade oil sanctions.
“There is no way Iran is open for business,” a senior administration official told reporters in a conference call Thursday morning, announcing the new targets of sanctions. He added that when it came to the core sanctions, “We haven’t let up, and we aren’t letting up.”
Among the new sanctions was a Singapore-based company called Mid Oil Asia, which was charged with helping the National Iranian Tanker Company make payments for services, by transferring funds that made no mention of the vessels that were aided, or their Iranian ownership. Another Singapore company, Singa Tankers, was charged with helping Iran make “urgent payments.” The location of both companies is notable, because Singapore often prides itself for running a carefully regulated shipping and banking system.
Five companies were charged with helping Iran’s nuclear and missile program, including one, the Eyvaz Technic Manufacturing Company, that the United States charged had procured some of the most sensitive and hard-to-build components for Iran’s nuclear centrifuges. The centrifuges are the equipment that, spinning at supersonic speeds, produced uranium; over the years the United States has sought to undermine the effort with sanctions, faulty parts and cyber attacks.
Another firm was charged with helping Iran obtain components for its heavy-water reactor facility, which officials fear could ultimately give Iran another pathway to a bomb capability, using plutonium.
