The sanctions by the US treasury department were imposed on Sense Shipping and Trading Sdn Bhd, Reuters reported.

Also hit by sanctions were two Singaporean companies – Asia Fuel Pte Ltd and Unicious Energy Pte Ltd – and six Iran-based petrochemical manufacturers.

Washington accused Asia Fuel of facilitating the shipment of petroleum products worth millions of dollars to customers in East Asia.

“Iran is increasingly turning to buyers in East Asia to sell its petrochemical and petroleum products, in violation of US sanctions,” treasury undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence Brian Nelson was quoted as saying.

According to Reuters, the sanctions were slapped on firms the US treasury accused of being involved in facilitating the sale and shipment of petroleum and petrochemicals on behalf of Triliance Petrochemical Co Ltd.

Triliance Petrochemical was hit with sanctions by Washington three years ago.

The action freezes US assets of those hit with sanctions and generally bars Americans from dealing with them.

Those who engage in certain transactions with the companies also risk being hit with sanctions.

Last year, the US treasury imposed sanctions against a Malaysian group, accusing it of engaging in “the cruel trafficking of endangered and threatened wildlife and the products of brutal poaching”.

It had named Teo Boon Ching, the “Teo Boon Ching wildlife trafficking transnational criminal organisation” and Malaysian company Sunrise Greenland.

It said the organisation specialised in the transportation of rhino horn, ivory and pangolins from Africa.