Iran, So Far Away, Part 2

Looks like another round of Iranian sanctions is in the works, this time targeting the country's oil and gas industry.

The Obama administration plans to impose fresh sanctions against Iran on Monday, diplomatic sources familiar with the plan told CNN.


U.S. sanctions already prohibit American companies from doing business with Iran.

The goal of the new measures is to bar foreign companies from doing business with Iran's petrochemical industry by threatening to ban them from U.S. markets, the sources said.

The sources did not want to be named because they are not authorized to speak on record before officials roll out the sanctions.

The measures, which the sources said are expected to be announced early Monday, build on existing sanctions on Iran's oil and gas industry.

That's moderately hardball stuff there, off the top of my head I recall that Russia does oil business with Iran, as does China. Cutting Chinese and Russian oil companies out of the US market for doing business with Iran may have a whole lot of unintended consequences, but we'll see if this is the actual plan, or what kind of loopholes are in the sanctions.  One would think foreign companies that do business with Iran would be persona non grata around here anyway, so it's entirely possible that nothing will actually change.

We'll see what the reaction of European/Asian/African countries are.