Tehran, Iran, May 8
By Mehdi Sepahvand – Trend:
Although harsh sanctions nearly grounded Iran’s oil, gas, and petrochemical industries in the first half of 2010s, the Japan-based International Services Corporation (ISC), a supplier of industrial goods, continued to support Iran’s petrochemical industry.
"We were the first company to start to effectively supply the industry in Iran. We supplied Bandar Imam Petrochemical Company, the biggest in Iran, and helped rebuild it. Even under the sanctions we managed to get the Japanese vendors supply us," the ISC Tehran Office Manager Reza Yarmohammadi told Trend May 8.
Mohammad Kazemi, a board member, said in the meantime that although ISC managed to convince most suppliers to continue their cooperation under sanctions, some companies under holdings with links to the United States used to shy away from supplies.
"For example, when we made Hitachi some inquiries during the sanctions years, they did not respond, citing sanctions-related restrictions. However, after the sanctions were removed they made offers and expressed readiness for cooperation," Kazemi added.
Sanctions against Iran worsened to an all-time highest severity in 2012, with the EU, the US, and UN each slapping their own sets of embargos on the Islamic Republic. The sanctions were removed in January 2016 following the landmark nuclear deal, called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), between Tehran and the Group 5+1 (the US, UK, France, Germany, Russia, and China).