Iran sanctions: U.S. [selectively] issues penalties under Iran sanctions | LA Times
The 4-month-old sanctions are aimed at drying up foreign investment in Iran’s oil and gas sector in hopes of persuading Iran to agree to limits on its disputed nuclear program. Some members of Congress have pressed the Obama administration not to shy away from penalizing huge Chinese, Russian and Turkish firms that have been seeking energy deals with Iran as Western companies have pulled out.
Instead, the administration sanctioned only one company, a Swiss subsidiary of Iran’s national oil company, while declaring that it was weighing punishments against other, unidentified foreign companies.
The sanctions on Naftiran Intertrade Co. will prevent it from receiving loans of more than $10 million from any U.S. bank, and prohibit various benefits from the U.S. government. But officials said the more significant penalty will be an indirect one: They said the move is likely to make foreign firms unwilling to do business with the Swiss company for fear they could be hit by U.S. penalties.
