New Delhi: Six Indian companies and three Indian nationals have been sanctioned by the US government in two separate actions targeting firms and individuals involved in the purchase or sale of Iranian petroleum and petrochemical products.

A spokesperson for the state department announced the measures as part of a broader package against more than 20 entities operating across several countries. Simultaneously, the US Treasury Department imposed sweeping sanctions on 115 individuals, companies, and vessels linked to an international shipping network facilitating Iranian oil exports, which includes three Indian nationals.

This is not the first time Indian entities have been targeted by the Trump administration as part of its “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran.

Of the more than 20 entities named by the state department, six are Indian companies. The others include a China-based operator of a crude oil terminal, as well as firms based in the UAE, Turkey, and Indonesia.

The Indian companies listed are:

• Alchemical Solutions Private Limited: Accused of importing Iranian petrochemicals worth over US $84 million between January and December 2024. 
• Global Industrial Chemicals Limited: Sanctioned for acquiring Iranian-origin products, including methanol, valued at US $51 million between July 2024 and January 2025. 
• Jupiter Dye Chem Private Limited: Allegedly purchased Iranian products, including toluene, worth US $49 million from January 2024 to January 2025. 
• Ramniklal S. Gosalia & Company: Charged with importing methanol and toluene valued at over US $22 million during the same period. 
• Persistent Petrochem Private Limited: Imported Iranian-origin petrochemicals worth approximately US $14 million between October and December 2024. 
• Kanchan Polymers: Accused of trading in Iranian-origin polyethylene worth around US $1.3 million between February and July 2024.

Separately, the Treasury Department’s sanctions list includes more than 115 individuals, vessels, and companies. Described as the largest Iran-related sanctions package since 2018, it targets a network allegedly controlled by Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani, the son of a top adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Among those sanctioned are Indian nationals Jacob Kurian, Anil Kumar Panackal Narayanan Nair, and Pankaj Nagjibhai Patel. Kurian and Nair were named for their roles as the sole shareholder and director of Neo Shipping Inc, registered owner of the vessel Abhra, which is part of Shamkhani’s shipping network.

Patel was sanctioned for his association with Teodor Shipping L.L.C., a UAE-based company managing vessels used in Iranian petroleum transport. According to the Treasury Department, Patel has also served as an executive at several shipping firms within Shamkhani’s network and is listed as a director of the India-based Shreeji Gems Ltd.

There has been no official response from the Indian government so far.

Meanwhile, in a statement issued in Tehran, Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei condemned the latest round of US sanctions, calling them a blatant assault on the Iranian people and their national dignity. He described the move as a clear reflection of “the hostility of American policymakers towards the Iranian people.”

The X account of the Iranian embassy in India has also posted that the United States "continues to weaponize the economy and use sanctions as tools to dictate its will on independent nations such as Iran and India and impede their growth and development."

"These coercive discriminatory actions violate the principles of international law and national sovereignty, representing a modern form of economic imperialism. Resisting such policies is a stand for a more powerful emerging non Western-led multilateral world order and a stronger Global South," it noted.

The Iran embassy in India tweeted that the US continued to “weaponise the economy and use sanctions as tool to dictate its will on independent nations such as Iran and India and impede their growth and development.”

“These coercive discriminatory actions violate the principles of international law and national sovereignty, representing a modern form of economic imperialism. Resisting such policies is a stand for a more powerful emerging non Western-led multilateral world order and a stronger Global South,” said the post on X.

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