The United States has announced it is tightening sanctions against Iran’s oil industry as Tehran keeps up its closure of the Strait of Hormuz as part of the Mideast war.
The sanctions target more than two dozen individuals, companies, and vessels.
“Today, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) intensified pressure on Iran’s illicit oil transportation infrastructure by sanctioning more than two dozen individuals, companies, and vessels operating within the network of Iranian oil shipping magnate Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani (Shamkhani), the son of now-deceased senior Iranian security official Ali Shamkhani,” the US Department of the Treasury said in a press release.
“Treasury is moving aggressively with Economic Fury by targeting regime elites like the Shamkhani family that attempt to profit at the expense of the Iranian people,” said Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent. “Under President Trump’s leadership, Treasury will continue to cut off Iran’s illicit smuggling and terror proxy networks. Financial institutions should be on notice that Treasury will leverage all tools and authorities, including secondary sanctions, against those that continue to support Tehran’s terrorist activities.”
The move comes weeks after Washington issued a 30-day waiver of sanctions on Iranian oil at sea, which Bessent said last month allowed some 140million barrels to reach global markets in a bid to relieve pressure on global energy supplies sparked by the war, Reuters reported.
Bessent confirmed on Wednesday that the waiver, issued on March 20 and set to expire April 19, would not be renewed, according to Reuters.
The United States on Wednesday threatened to sanction buyers of Iranian oil and said it believed China would pause such purchases as Washington enforces a maritime blockade on Iran.
“We have told countries that if you are buying Iranian oil, that if Iranian money is sitting in your banks, we are now willing to apply secondary sanctions,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters at the White House.
Meanwhile, the US State Department said Washington is acting to decisively limit Iran’s ability to generate revenue as it attempts to “hold the Strait of Hormuz hostage.”