The US Treasury Department announced on Thursday new sanctions on Iran targeting individuals, networks and 17 vessels involved in transporting crude oil, petroleum products and petrochemicals, with the aim of tightening restrictions on Iranian energy exports and reducing Tehran’s revenues from its oil trade.
Targeting the maritime infrastructure of oil exports
The sanctions are part of an operation the Treasury Department has dubbed “Economic Outcast.” Washington says the operation is aimed at limiting the financial resources Iran uses to fund the war, missile programs, cyberattacks and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
A US Treasury official told reporters that, in the US administration’s assessment, the sanctions represent the strongest blow yet to the remaining maritime infrastructure Iran uses to transport oil outside channels authorized by the United States.
The official added that the measures are intended to disrupt the vast majority of what he described as Iran’s “shadow fleet,” which Tehran relies on to transport shipments of oil, petroleum products and petrochemicals. The measures seek to “cut off the last major source of illicit revenue for the Iranian regime,” he said.
20 million barrels outside the blockade
The measures follow the United States’ reimposition of a blockade on Iranian ports on July 14, after a memorandum of understanding between Washington and Tehran collapsed, further tightening restrictions on Iran’s oil trade.
A Treasury official said Iran now has only about 20 million barrels of crude oil aboard ships located outside the scope of the US blockade. That volume is equivalent to about one-fifth of global daily oil consumption, which stands at nearly 100 million barrels.
Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz
The US military’s Central Command said on Thursday that it had held a virtual meeting with representatives of the international shipping industry to discuss shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, noting an increase in commercial vessel traffic through the waterway.
The command said US forces had supported the transport of more than 1.25 billion barrels of crude oil from Gulf countries through the Strait of Hormuz in recent months, while Iran, according to the US statement, had been unable to export a single barrel through its ports because of the blockade.
The command added that US forces had cleared naval mines from major shipping routes, enabling thousands of commercial vessels to pass, and said coordination with Gulf countries and the shipping industry would continue to increase shipping traffic through the strait.
