The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions targeting Iran’s illicit oil shipping networks. File Photo by Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA-EFE
Nov. 21 (UPI) — The United States has sanctioned dozens of individuals, entities, vessels and aircraft accused of participating in Iran’s oil-shipping networks, as the Trump administration continues to squeeze the Islamic nation with its reinstated maximum pressure campaign.
The State Department said Thursday it was adding 17 names of companies people and vessels to its sanctions list, while the Treasury said it was adding 41.
“The United States remains committed to disrupting the illicit funding streams that finance all aspects of Iran’s malign activities,” State Department spokesman Thomas Pigott said in a statement.
“As long as Iran devotes revenue to funding attacks against the United States and our allies, supporting terrorism around the world and pursuing other destabilizing actions, we will use all the tools at our disposal to hold the regime accountable.”
In February, President Donald Trump reinstated his maximum pressure campaign of sanctions and other punitive economic measures against Iran from his first administration to force Iran to return to the negotiating table on a new deal aimed at preventing Tehran from securing a nuclear weapon.
Since reinstating the policy, Trump has repeatedly imposed sanctions targeting Iran, specifically its illicit oil trade, which funds its military forces.
The Treasury said it was sanctioning an additional six vessels of Tehran’s shadow fleet of oil tankers that export energy products. It also blacklisted Mahan Air, which works closely with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force, the Iranian military’s specialized elite unit that oversees international operations and funds proxy militias, such as Hamas and Hezbollah.
The State Department said its sanctioned targets were located in several countries, including India, panama and the Seychelles, among others.
The sanctions freeze all property of the named companies and individuals in the United States and bar U.S. persons from doing business with them.
“Today’s action continues Treasury’s campaign to cut off funding for the Iranian regime’s development of nuclear weapons and support of terrorist proxies,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.
“Disrupting the Iranian regime’s revenue is critical to helping curb its nuclear ambitions.”