The U.S. Department of the Treasury announced this Thursday new sanctions against 17 oil tankers that, according to Washington, constitute the core of the clandestine fleet used by Iran to evade the restrictions imposed by the White House on the export of its fuel.
"Today's action effectively neutralizes the vast majority of the remaining network of the Iranian clandestine fleet," said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. "No one who facilitates the evasion of Iranian sanctions is safe from the full weight of Treasury's authority," he added in his statement.
U.S. authorities maintain that these vessels are managed by "a complex network of international front companies," which, in their view, highlights "the global magnitude of Iran's illicit maritime transport network and the sophistication with which the regime attempts to conceal its sanctions evasion."
"By dismantling these maritime nodes and the companies that support them, the Treasury Department is cutting the main channels" of Iranian crude oil trade, according to the sanctioning order, which is part of the pressure strategy on the Iranian economy outlined in the 'Economic Marginalization' operation, presented by Bessent last August in the context of the war between the United States and Iran.
The same provision extends punitive measures to 18 companies that Washington accuses of "operating in the oil or petrochemical sector of the Iranian economy," an activity that the United States also considers prohibited and subject to sanction.