US hits Iran’s oil minister and shadow fleet with new sanctions
Bloomberg |
Mar 17, 2025 11:38 PM IST
The action is based on a January 2020 executive order in which President Donald Trump imposed sweeping sanctions on Iran’s petroleum and petrochemical sectors.
The Trump administration is imposing sanctions on Iran’s oil minister, as well as targeting more companies and vessels linked to the “shadow fleet” that Tehran uses to circumvent sanctions.
Iran's oil minister Mohsen Paknejad reacts after the government meeting in Tehran, Iran, March 5, 2025.(Reuters)
Iran's oil minister Mohsen Paknejad reacts after the government meeting in Tehran, Iran, March 5, 2025.(Reuters)
The US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control on Thursday added to its list of “Specially Designated Nationals” Mohsen Paknejad, who as minister of petroleum “oversees the export of tens of billions of dollars’ worth of Iranian oil and has allocated billions of dollars’ worth of oil to Iran’s armed forces for export,” according to a Treasury statement.
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The action is based on a January 2020 executive order in which President Donald Trump imposed sweeping sanctions on Iran’s petroleum and petrochemical sectors, and marks the third round of sanctions since the president’s Feb. 4 national security memorandum imposing a “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran.
The Treasury Department identifies vessels flagged in several countries as members of Iran’s shadow fleet, and designates their owners “for operating in the petroleum sector of the Iranian economy.”
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In a corresponding action, the State Department designated three companies “for having knowingly engaged in a significant transaction for the purchase, acquisition, sale, transport or marketing of petroleum or petroleum products from Iran.”
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