The Biden administration on Wednesday issued a new round of sanctions targeting an international network it says facilitated the sale of hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of Iranian oil and petrochemical products to East Asia. 

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement that the State and Treasury departments designated 15 individuals and entities located in Iran, Vietnam, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong for supporting “Iranian energy trade generating millions of dollars’ worth of illicit revenue.”    

The sanctions imposed Wednesday are the administration's latest to target the illicit trade of Iranian oil. Last month, the US blacklisted a network of Iranian petrochemical producers as well as front companies in China and the UAE. 

Why it matters: The new designations come after indirect talks between the United States and Iran ended in Doha, Qatar, last week without progress on reviving the nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Negotiations had been stalled since mid-March, mainly over Tehran’s demand that Washington remove the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) from its list of foreign terrorist organizations.