The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced the penalties targeting more than 30 individuals, entities and vessels enabling the illicit sale of Iranian energy — a “primary source of revenue for financing domestic repression, terrorist proxies and weapons programs.”
At least 12 vessels were listed for having moved millions of barrels of oil on behalf of the Ayatollah’s regime amid a bloody crackdown on protesters across Iran.
Among the targeted entities — based in Turkey and the United Arab Emirates as well as Iran — were also suppliers of “precursor materials and sensitive machinery” for Tehran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics (MODAFL).
In 2020, the State Department revealed that employees of some of the sanctioned entities had also traveled to Russia and Venezuela for technical assistance.
“Iran exploits financial systems to sell illicit oil, launder the proceeds, procure components for its nuclear and conventional weapons programs, and support its terrorist proxies,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.
“Under President Trump’s strong leadership, Treasury will continue to put maximum pressure on Iran to target the regime’s weapons capabilities and support for terrorism, which it has prioritized over the lives of the Iranian people.”
All of the individuals and entities will be barred from the US financial system.
More than 875 “persons, vessels, and aircraft” linked to Iran have been targeted since the Trump administration’s maximum pressure campaign started back up in 2025.
Wednesday’s announcement came one day ahead of talks with Iranian officials in Geneva as the US inches closer to military action.
Witkoff stunned observers when he told Fox News on Feb. 21 that Iran was “probably a week away from having industrial-grade bomb-making material” — after US airstrikes obliterated three of the regime’s nuclear sites in June 2025.
That claim was echoed by President Trump in his State of the Union address Tuesday night, when he said the Islamic Republic was seeking to start its nuclear program “all over … and are, at this moment, again pursuing their sinister ambitions.“
The president also claimed that Iran has already developed missiles capable of striking US military bases in Europe and the Middle East.
“This is some terrible people,” Trump said. “They’ve already developed missiles that can threaten Europe and our bases overseas, and they’re working to build missiles that will soon reach the United States of America.”
The president also claimed that Iran has already developed missiles capable of striking US military bases in Europe and the Middle East.
Iranian officials have publicly denied the claims from the president.
Iran Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said Wednesday: “Whatever [the US is] alleging in regards to Iran’s nuclear program, Iran’s ballistic missiles, and the number of casualties during January’s unrest is simply the repetition of big lies.”
It’s unclear exactly how many protesters were slaughtered by the regime amid demonstrations over poor economic conditions in Tehran that began in December.
Trump said in his address to Congress that Iran had killed 32,000 of its own citizens.
The Human Rights Activists News Agency, which relies on a network of informants inside Iran, estimated roughly 6,500 protesters were slain.
Another 11,744 cases remain “under review” by the human rights watchdog.
Trump first threatened to bomb Iran on Jan. 2 if authorities continued killing anti-regime protesters, later deploying two US aircraft carrier groups into position for possible strikes.