The U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday announced new sanctions on Iranian oil sales in a bid to choke off funding for Iran’s military apparatus.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent described the sanctions as part of Operation Economic Fury, the fiscal element of the Operation Epic Fury military action against Iran.
“The Treasury Department will continue to increase pressure on Iranian oil sales to deprive the Iranian regime and its military of the financial resources it needs to threaten U.S. allies and partners in the Middle East,” Bessent said.
“We will not allow the Iranian government to increase its oil revenue for the purpose of reconstituting its armed forces and military capabilities,” he vowed.
The Treasury Department imposed sanctions on eight ships that have carried Iranian oil and petroleum products to international buyers, plus over 15 corporate entities involved in the Iranian oil trade. The targets included companies based in Hong Kong, Singapore, Qatar, the Marshall Islands, mainland China, India, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The targeted Iranian entities included Sepehr Energy Jahan Nama Pars Company, which the Treasury statement described as “the oil sales arm of Iran’s Armed Forces General Staff” and “a key node in Iran’s crude oil and petroleum export network.”
“Sepehr Energy Jahan’s oil exports depend on access to shadow fleet vessels willing to transport the military’s oil,” the statement noted. Many of the other companies targeted by the sanctions were fronts for Sepehr Energy Jahan, or provided shipping resources to facilitate the Iranian military oil trade.
“Sanctioned Iranian entities also use the Iranian armed forces’ oil sales infrastructure to procure oil products from outside Iran. For example, Hong Kong-based Worth Seen Energy Limited procures refined petroleum products for NIOC on behalf of Sepehr Energy Jahan,” the statement said. NIOC is the National Iranian Oil Company.
Thursday’s round of sanctions came the day after the Treasury Department made the Persian Gulf Strait Authority (PGSA) — the new agency created by Iran’s terrorist Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to extort “tolls” and ransom from ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz — a target of Operation Economic Fury.
“The Iranian military’s latest attempt to extort global maritime trade is proof that Economic Fury has left the regime desperate for cash. Through Economic Fury, the United States has imposed a financial stranglehold on the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism,” Bessent said on Wednesday.
The sanctions against PGSA included a warning that any person or entity who complies with Iranian demands for tolls or ransoms risks triggering secondary U.S. sanctions against themselves.
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