Washington  - The United States has placed sanctions on six Iranian companies and a Chinese businessman for aiding the Islamic regime's alleged pursuit of nuclear weapons, the Treasury Department said Tuesday.

The US said Li Fangwei, commercial manager of the Chinese firm LIMMT, has been violating United Nations resolutions by selling graphite and other materials to Iran for its missile programme.

The Treasury sanctioned LIMMT itself in 2006, freezing its US assets and limiting its access to global financial markets. But the US said Li created a series of separate front companies in order to continue the illicit sales. Eight of those front companies were also added to the Treasury's sanctions list.

The Iranian firms were sanctioned for allegedly being under the control of the Defense Industries Organization, an arm of Iran's military. They are Khorasan Metallurgy Industries, Kaveh Cutting Tools Company, the Amin Industrial Complex, Yazd Metallurgy Industries, Shahid Sayyade Shirazi Industries and Niru Battery Manufacturing Company.

"We are acting under our Security Council and other international obligations to prevent these entities from abusing the financial system to pursue centrifuge and missile technology for Iran," said Stuart Levey, the Treasury's undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence. (dpa)