US imposes fresh sanctions targeting Iran’s maritime operations

The US Treasury Department unveiled sweeping sanctions on Wednesday against more than 115 Iran-linked individuals, entities, and vessels—marking a sharp escalation of its “maximum pressure” strategy following the June strikes on key nuclear facilities in Tehran. Central to this sanctions wave are maritime interests tied to Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani, son of prominent regime advisor Ali Shamkhani. Officials described this move as the most extensive Iran-related sanctions package since 2018, underscoring the Trump administration’s renewed campaign to isolate Tehran.

According to Treasury, Shamkhani controls a vast network of container ships and tankers through a complex web of intermediaries that sell Iranian and Russian oil and other goods throughout the world. Treasury accused Shamkhani of using personal connections and corruption in Tehran to generate tens of billions of dollars in profits, much of which is used to prop up the Iranian regime.

Overall, the new sanctions target 15 shipping firms, 52 vessels, 12 individuals and 53 entities involved in sanctions evasion in 17 countries, ranging from Panama to Italy to Hong Kong. A US official said the new sanctions would make it “much more difficult” for Iran to sell its oil, but added that the administration did not anticipate any sustained disruption to global oil markets LCOc1. The official said that Iran’s oil exports had already declined to around 1.2 million barrels per day, from 1.8 million barrels per day at the start of the year, after the Trump administration imposed several smaller rounds of sanctions targeting Iran’s oil business.