US firms skirting sanctions for Iran trade

Reports say the government of the United States is allowing US companies to do business with Iran, despite the backdrop of Washington’s unilateral sanctions against Tehran.

The New York Times reported on Friday that the Treasury Department has granted a large number of licenses to US companies to trade with Iran.

The report said the US government granted nearly 10,000 exceptions, enabling the firms do business with Iran worth billions of dollars.

Companies ranging from Kraft Food and Pepsi to some of the biggest US banks reportedly benefited from the exemptions granted under a law allowing trade on humanitarian considerations. The law has allowed the trade of goods worth $1.7 billion, the report says.

In one case, it even okayed a permit to bid on a pipeline project that can help Iran export natural gas to Europe.

However, at the same time, the US is hypocritically putting pressure on other countries doing business with Iran.

Earlier last week, the United States imposed new unilateral sanctions on several Iranian companies it accuses of involvement in Iran’s nuclear energy program.

On December 21, the US Treasury Department singled out two banks, an insurance company, and a local shipping line, while the new sanctions also target former Iranian Energy Minister Parviz Fattah.

Tehran has repeatedly said that US sanctions have been largely ineffective over the past three decades. Iranian officials have even said that they have helped Iranian industries develop at a faster pace.

On Tuesday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad dismissed the anti-Iran sanctions resolutions approved by the United Nations as “illegal” and added that sanctions would only “strengthen the Iranian nation and accelerate the pace of our progress.”