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The US imposed sanctions on Monday targeting dozens of individuals and oil tankers across China, the UAE, India, and other regions for allegedly financing Iran and its support for militant groups that attack the US and its allies.
The sanctions, issued by the US Treasury and State Departments, include more than 30 individuals and vessels involved in brokering and transporting Iranian oil.
Among those sanctioned are oil brokers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Hong Kong, tanker operators and managers in India and the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the head of Iran’s National Iranian Oil Company, and the Iranian Oil Terminals Company, whose operations help finance Iran’s “destabilising activities”, the Treasury Department said in a statement.
The vessels sanctioned on Monday are responsible for shipping tens of millions of barrels of crude oil valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars, the US said.
“Iran continues to rely on a shadowy network of vessels, shippers, and brokers to facilitate its oil sales and fund its destabilising activities,” said Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent.
“The United States will use all our available tools to target all aspects of Iran’s oil supply chain, and anyone who deals in Iranian oil exposes themselves to significant sanctions risk.”
Oil is a key revenue source for Iran, and restricting its exports aims to cut off funding for the country’s nuclear and missile programs. The sanctions bar US individuals and entities from conducting business with the designated targets and freeze any assets held in the US.
The latest sanctions mark the second round of sanctions on Iranian oil sales since former president Donald Trump issued the National Security Presidential Memorandum 2, which seeks to drive Iran’s oil exports to zero and prevent it from acquiring nuclear weapons.
When the memo was signed in February, Mr Trump said from the Oval Office, “hopefully we’re not going to have to use it very much”.
“We will see whether or not we can arrange or work out a deal with Iran,” the president said.
“We don’t want to be tough on Iran. We don’t want to be tough on anybody,” Mr Trump added. “But they just can’t have a nuclear bomb.”
Mr Trump had accused former president Joe Biden of not strictly enforcing oil-export sanctions. Despite US sanctions, Iran earned $53bn from oil exports in 2023 and $54bn in 2022. In 2024, Iran’s oil production reached its highest level since 2018, according to OPEC data.
State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a statement that “as long as Iran devotes its energy revenues to financing attacks on our allies, supporting terrorism around the world, or pursuing other destabilising actions, we will use all the tools at our disposal to hold the regime accountable”.
China does not recognize US sanctions and Chinese firms buy the most Iranian oil. China and Iran have built a trading system that uses mostly Chinese yuan and a network of middlemen, avoiding the dollar and exposure to US regulators. India is yet to comment on the sanctions.
Additional reporting by agencies.
