The U.S. Treasury Department announced on Thursday new sanctions on Iran’s oil industry, targeting an international network that facilitates the shipment of millions of barrels of Iranian oil to China.
In a release, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC, said the sanctions target Sepehr Energy, a front company through which Iran’s Armed Forces General Staff, or AFGS, ships the oil. The sanctions include entities and individuals in China, India and the United Arab Emirates, as well as several vessels.
The office said Sepehr Energy and its affiliate companies, which operate under the AFGS, use “deceitful evasion methods,” including the falsification of maritime documents, to disguise the Iranian origin of the oil that it trades and transports to overseas buyers, including China.
The OFAC said each year, the illicit sales generate the equivalent of billions of dollars, which Iran uses to fund its destabilizing regional activities and support of multiple regional terrorist groups, including Hamas, the Houthis and Hezbollah.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.
In the statement, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Iran also uses the funds to develop its nuclear program and the production of deadly ballistic missiles and military drones.
“The United States is committed to aggressively targeting any attempt by Iran to secure funding for these malign activities,” he said.
In a separate statement, U.S. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said the United States will not tolerate Iran’s destructive and destabilizing behavior.
“We will use all tools at our disposal to hold the regime accountable for its destabilizing activities and pursuit of nuclear weapons that threaten the civilized world,” she said.
Earlier this week, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order mandating the U.S. government impose maximum pressure on Tehran to dissuade it from pursuing its nuclear program. Iran has said its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
