After enacting comprehensive energy sanctions on companies that do business with Iran, and encouraging 31 other countries to follow suit, last Thursday the United States announced penalties against only a single firm for violating them.

The U.S. Department of State named the Naftiran Intertrade Co. (NICO), an Iranian energy-trading company based in Lausanne, Switzerland, for violating the Iran Sanctions Act, a 1996 law which prohibits investments of $20 million or more in the Iranian energy sector. The move could result in U.S. penalties against the firm and is intended to make it more difficult for foreign energy companies to do business with NICO. According to the State Department, NICO has raised hundreds of millions of dollars in financing for the Iranian energy industry.