The US Treasury Department said on Wednesday it was intensifying pressure on Iran’s oil transportation infrastructure by imposing sanctions on more than two dozen individuals, companies, and vessels.
The sanctions target entities within the network of Iranian oil shipping magnate Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani, son of Ali Shamkhani, a key figure in Iran’s security and nuclear efforts who was killed in US-Israeli strikes on Tehran on February 28.
Shamkhani’s network had previously been sanctioned by the Treasury in July of 2025. The US issued 115 sanctions against the group, according to a Treasury press release at the time.
“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,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in the statement.
The Treasury Department also issued sanctions against Iranian national and Hezbollah financier Seyed Naiemaei Badroddin Moosavi, and three companies linked to a money laundering scheme involving the sale of Iranian oil in exchange for Venezuelan gold.
The oil-for-gold scheme was carried out on behalf of Lebanese terrorist organization Hezbollah and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’s Quds Force, the Treasury stated.
In another move by the Treasury, the US announced that it wouldn’t renew its waiver on Iranian oil at sea that expires this week, and quietly let a similar waiver on sanctions on Russian oil expire over the weekend.
According to two sources who spoke with Reuters, the move aims to complement the effects of the Strait of Hormuz blockade, with one saying, “Treasury is going full force on Economic Fury.”
Additionally, the US Central Command (CENTCOM), which is in charge of enforcing the blockade on Iran, announced on Wednesday that it had successfully redirected an Iranian-flagged cargo vessel that attempted to breach the blockade, marking the tenth ship sent back since the blockade was imposed.
“Ten vessels have now been turned around, and zero ships have broken through since the start of the U.S. blockade on Monday,” CENTCOM said in a statement.
Reuters contributed to this report.
🚨 BREAKING: Watch the full clip here ➤
