The United States has imposed new Iran-related sanctions targeting 16 individuals and 10 entities, accusing them of helping Tehran evade restrictions, move funds through international financial networks and finance its military and regional proxy groups.
Announced on Thursday (local time), the measures come as Washington continues to tighten economic pressure on Tehran amid a continuing standoff between the two countries and disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the administration would continue targeting Iran’s financial lifelines to prevent its leadership from using them to sustain its activities.
“The noose is tightening around Iran’s economy, and not even Iran’s so-called allies can save it. The Department of the Treasury will not relent until the Iranian regime’s coffers are empty and every remaining financial lifeline sustaining its war machine has been severed,” Bessent said in a post on X.
The US Treasury Department said the latest action, carried out under Operation Economic Outcast, targeted Iran’s alleged efforts to access the international financial system through an Iraqi bank that it accused of also supporting Iranian-backed militia groups.
The department said the measures targeted financial institutions, offshore banks, oil intermediaries and foreign-exchange networks allegedly involved in sanctions evasion and international fund transfers. The action was taken under Executive Order 13902, which targets certain sectors of Iran’s economy, including finance and petroleum.
“By dismantling these institutions—including offshore banks and shadow financiers that have moved hundreds of millions of dollars through shell companies and foreign-exchange specialists across the Middle East and Asia—Treasury is severing critical revenue streams that sustain Iran’s military and proxy forces,” the department said.
Among the entities targeted is Iraq-based International Development Bank for Investment and Finance (IDB), which the Treasury Department accused of providing financial facilitation services and access to US dollars for Iran. It alleged that the bank maintained links with Iranian government entities and Iran-aligned militia groups in Iraq.
The sanctions also cover Iran-based Jazireh International Bank Company and Chabahar International Bank Overseas Company, described by the department as offshore banks affiliated with Bank Mellat and Bank Shahr, respectively.
Iranian national Sayyed Ruhollah Razavi was identified as an oil intermediary who allegedly helped sell Iranian oil and repatriate the proceeds through clandestine banking networks.
According to the Treasury Department, he had previously facilitated overseas shipments of millions of barrels of oil each month on behalf of the National Iranian Oil Company and its subsidiary, Naftiran Intertrade Company.
Razavi and two Iranian companies associated with him, Tejarat Gostar Atlas Parsian Kish Company and Farzanegan Energy Pars Company, were also targeted.
The department announced sanctions against seven employees of Farab Sorough Qeshm Company, an affiliate of Iran’s Shahr Bank, alleging that they coordinated foreign-exchange transactions linked to Iranian oil sales companies and brokers through shell companies in Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates.
Other designations covered exchange houses, financial intermediaries and individuals allegedly involved in processing payments for Iranian financial institutions and shadow banking networks.
Separately, the US Department of State is designating Cuba-based Banco Internacional de Comercio S.A. (BICSA) under Executive Order 14404 for operating in or having operated in Cuba’s financial services sector. The Treasury Department alleged that BICSA had provided services to Iran-based Karafarin Bank since at least 2022.
Operation Economic Outcast was announced by Bessent on August 24. The initiative seeks to identify and disrupt networks that Iran allegedly uses to generate revenue, evade sanctions and transfer funds abroad.
The Treasury Department said Iran relies on multi-jurisdictional shadow banking networks to launder money, procure weapons, access US dollar correspondent banking relationships and finance regional proxy groups. It warned that entities facilitating money laundering or sanctions evasion on Iran’s behalf risk losing access to the US financial system.
The sanctions announcement comes amid conflicting claims by Iran and the United States over control of the Strait of Hormuz, a key international shipping route.
Iran’s Army Navy said its forces had full control and dominance over the strait’s eastern waters, according to a statement published on the army’s website.
The US Central Command (CENTCOM) rejected Iran’s claim, saying the United States and its regional partners controlled the waterway.
CENTCOM also said a Singapore-registered container vessel had been hit by a projectile fired by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The vessel sank while being towed to shore, it said.
Despite the attack, more than 40 commercial ships continued to pass through the Strait of Hormuz in the preceding 24 hours, according to CENTCOM.
The US military command also rejected an Iranian claim that hundreds of US service members had been killed in Jordan.
“Three American service members were killed in action in July as partner forces defended against Iranian attacks,” CENTCOM said in a social media post.
(With agency inputs from ANI and Reuters)