The Trump administration imposed another round of sanctions on Thursday targeting Iranian military oil sales, designating several Hong Kong-based companies with ties to U.S.-sanctioned Sepehr Energy Jahan, the oil sales arm of Iran’s Armed Forces General Staff.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury said the companies helped transport illicit Iranian oil through Tehran’s so-called “shadow fleet,” including shipments to China and gasoline deliveries from the United Arab Emirates to Iran through front companies and intermediaries.
“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,” Scott Bessent, the U.S. treasury secretary, said. “We will not allow the Iranian government to increase its oil revenue for the purpose of reconstituting its armed forces and military capabilities.”
The sanctions are part of the administration’s broader “Economic Fury” campaign, which Treasury says has impacted Iran’s ability to access tens of billions of dollars in revenue through crackdowns on cryptocurrency, shadow banking and oil networks, as well as sanctions-evasion networks.
The announcement came as U.S. officials said American and Iranian negotiators had reached a preliminary memorandum of understanding to reopen the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for possible sanctions relief and a 60-day negotiating window on Iran’s nuclear program and related issues.
U.S. President Donald Trump had not yet approved the proposal, according to the officials, while Tehran later stated that the text had not been finalized.
Earlier on Thursday, Treasury also sanctioned the new administrative body Iran said it formed to oversee transit through the Strait of Hormuz, warning that companies or governments paying tolls or other fees to Iran for passage through the waterway could face U.S. sanctions as well. The strait handles roughly one-fifth of global seaborne oil shipments.
