The United States has imposed new sanctions on 35 groups and individuals involved in operating Iran’s covert financial network, the US State Department said on Tuesday.
Iranian “shadow banking” networks allow the regime to evade sanctions, despite the US “maximum pressure” campaign against the Islamic Republic, the State Department noted.
The State Department also accused Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Iranian military forces of illegally using the international financial system to profit from the sale of sanctioned oil, gather missile and weapon components, and fund terror proxies.
The statement also reflected on the plight of the Iranian people, noting how they live under a deteriorating economy while the regime extends favors to the elites.
This comes just days after the White House told the Wall Street Journal about Operation Economic Fury, a joint effort between the Department of Defense, the State Department, and the Treasury Department to exert economic pressure on Iran as US-Iran ceasefire negotiations continue.
Economic sanctions launched by the Treasury Department, paired with the blockade and seizure of Iran-linked vessels, aim to cut off Iran’s ability to export oil as a means of funding its war efforts, the White House told the WSJ on April 22, adding that US President Donald Trump was hopeful that the pressure campaign would help facilitate an agreement.
The Trump administration announced on Friday it had imposed sanctions on an independent “teapot” refinery in China for buying billions of dollars’ worth of Iranian oil, as Washington and Tehran head into another round of peace talks over the weekend.
The Treasury Department targeted Hengli Petrochemical (Dalian) Refinery, which it said is one of Iran’s largest customers of crude oil and petroleum products. The department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said it also imposed sanctions on about 40 shipping companies and vessels that operate as part of Iran’s shadow fleet.
The US sanctions, which freeze the US assets of designated individuals and prevent Americans from doing business with them, have deterred some larger independent refiners from buying Iranian oil. China buys more than 80% of the oil Iran ships, according to 2025 data from the analytics firm Kpler.
Goldie Katz and Reuters contributed to this report.
Source:
www.jpost.com
