Analysis by PMOI/MEK
Iran, June 10, 2019 – Mr. Mohammad Mohaddessin, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Iranian opposition coalition National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), commented on sanctions targeting the regime’s petrochemical industry in Iran.
Iranian opposition campaign
“Sanctions hitting the mullahs’ petrochemical industry has been one of the measures long called for by the Iranian opposition. The revenue from this industry and the currency it produces has essentially been filling the pockets the terrorist-designated Islamic Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), and the Supreme Leader’s bank account,” Mr. Mohaddesin said. “News conferences and briefings held in Washington DC by the National Council of Resistance of Iran have time and again reiterated the need to implement these sanctions.”
An NCRI statement issued last year reads: “We are facing a system of ‘political distribution’ of Iran’s oil income and income from other sources of wealth. This is the effect of a system of economic surplus and interest that would pay the regime’s officials and authorities according to their position and hierarchy. Those sources that would create the surplus payable only to the elite include the oil and petrochemical industries, imported consumer goods, the exchange market, job market, and the environment.”
“Part of the income from petrochemical products are channeled through a series of deceptive and fraud measures, and eventually lead to the supreme leader’s bank account,” the NCRI statement added.
The IRGC role
Iran’s petrochemical industry and a vast array of its subsidiary companies, according to the NCRI Foreign Affairs Committee chair, are part of the IRGC system and the Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company (PGPIC).
“Companies, firms, and groups associated with Iran’s Petrochemical Industries, including the 39 companies that have now been hit by the U.S. Treasury sanctions are each a large company. They include the Kimiya Petrochemical Company, the Bandar Imam Petrochemical Company, the Bu Ali Sina Petrochemical Company, the Fajr Petrochemical Company, the Hormoz Urea Fertilizer Company and etc. They each procure large revenue for the regime that is spent on domestic repression, and foreign terrorism and warmongering in the region resulting in tens of thousands of deaths, and destruction,” Mr. Mohaddesin explained.
Call to sanction Iran’s Gas industry
Another lucrative mega-industry that has been fueling the mullahs’ regime malign activities is the gas and steel industry.
The NCRI Foreign Affairs Committee chair explained how the regime ruling Iran has been accumulating funds for its expansionist and terrorist activities in the region and beyond.
“Following sanctions targeting the mullahs’ oil and petrochemical industry, the next lucrative commerce is the gas and steel industry, which are of the greatest importance to the theocratic regime. The petrochemical industry is now sanctioned. A few weeks ago, the U.S. hit Iran’s steel industry. Now we call for Iran’s regime gas industry to be sanctioned,” Mr. Mohaddesin said. “The entire revenue that stems from these industries is funneled straight toward the IRGC for its internal repression and extraterritorial meddling.”
Iran’s regime bypassing sanctions
With the oil sanctions hitting the Iranian regime hard, they have compelled themselves to avoid the petrochemical sanctions by all means possible.
“There was a paramount effort by the regime to stop the U.S. administration from going ahead with the petrochemical sanctions against Iran using foreign mediators, lobbyists, and other means. Even some in the United States attempted to block the petrochemical sanctions. They all failed and fortunately the regime’s petrochemical industry was also hit by sanctions,” Mr. Mohaddesin described.
Iranian people welcome petrochemical sanctions
Finally, Mr. Mohaddesin said the new sanctions are welcome news for the Iranian people, knowing they do not receive any share of this industry. The Iranian wealth and resources belong to the Iranian people, but the regime is plundering this wealth for its own malign activities, and the only thing the people get is the repression and poverty. These assets are needed for the future of the country, for the well-being of the Iranian people and the prosperity of a nation. It should be returned to its rightful owners, he explained.
The hands of this terrorist-designated IRGC must be cut off from looting the wealth belonging to the Iranian people. Therefore, the Iranian opposition will once again call on Europe to follow the US steps to designate the IRGC as a terrorist organization and to shut down all its activities in the world
