The United States has announced a fresh round of Iran -related sanctions targeting 27 companies, six individuals and 22 vessels, as the Trump administration intensifies economic pressure on Tehran and seeks to disrupt its oil trade and alleged sanctions-evasion networks, Al Jazeera reported.
“No enabler of Iranian sanctions evasion is safe from the full force of Treasury’s authorities. The designations cover shipping operators, maritime management companies and trading firms across several countries, including Turkiye, China , the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the Marshall Islands.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the latest action was aimed at cutting off revenue used by the Iranian regime and targeting those facilitating Iran’s oil sales and sanctions evasion, according to a press release issued by the US Department of the Treasury . “Treasury is starving the tyrannical regime in Tehran of the money it uses to wage war in the region, and we will continue exposing those who enable the regime’s oil sales,” Bessent said. The Treasury said the action, taken under Operation Economic Outcast, targets Iran’s remaining shadow fleet, an ageing network of tankers used to transport petroleum and petroleum products to foreign markets. The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said the designations cover shipping operators, maritime management companies and trading firms across several countries, including Turkiye, China, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the Marshall Islands. “The sanctioned vessels include crude oil, petroleum products, liquefied petroleum gas, chemical and bitumen tankers operating under various national flags,” Al Jazeera reported, citing OFAC’s statement. The Treasury said the latest action effectively neutralises the vast majority of Iran’s remaining shadow fleet network, which it said Tehran relies on to move billions of dollars’ worth of petroleum and petroleum products. The designated vessels have transported millions of barrels of Iranian crude oil, petroleum and petrochemical products to markets in South and East Asia, according to a press release issued by the Treasury. The vessels are registered under various national flags and operated through international companies, which the department said are used to conceal the scale of Iran’s shipping network and evade sanctions.
