April 16 (UPI) — The United States blacklisted three people, 17 entities and nine oil tankers accused of aiding Iran in evading sanctions, as the Trump administration targeted Tehran’s main revenue source amid ongoing negotiations to end the war.
The sanctions announced Wednesday target an oil shipping network allegedly operated by Iranian shipping magnate Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani, the 41-year-old son of the late Ali Shamkhani, a senior Iranian official.
“Under President Trump’s leadership, Treasury will continue to cut off Iran’s illicit smuggling and terror proxy networks,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.
“Financial institutions should be on notice that Treasury will leverage all tools and authorities, including secondary sanctions, against those that continue to support Tehran’s terrorist activities.”
The sanctions come amid an impasse in negotiations to end the war as a two-week cease-fire nears its end.
A key point of contention is the Strait of Hormuz, a vital energy trade shipping route that Iran has seized control of, driving up prices and threatening an energy crisis.
The Trump administration has accused Iran of holding the strait hostage and, early this week, began enforcing a military blockade of Iranian ports, cutting the country off from maritime trade worth hundreds of millions of dollars a day.
In announcing the sanctions Wednesday, State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Thomas Pigott said in a statement that the Trump administration was “acting to decisively limit Iran’s ability to generate revenue as it attempts to hold the Strait of Hormuz hostage.”
Treasury is “moving aggressively with Economic Fury by targeting regime elites like the Shamkhani family that attempt to profit at the expense of the Iranian people,” Bessent said. Operation Epic Fury is the Pentagon’s name for its offensive in Iran.
Those designated are generally barred from dealings with U.S. persons, and any property or interests in property in the United States or under the control of U.S. persons must be frozen. Non-U.S. persons who do business with them may also face the risk of sanctions.
President Donald Trump’s use of the United States’ financial vises against Iran in what he calls a maximum pressure campaign goes back to his first administration when he started imposing sweeping sanctions targeting Tehran after unilaterally withdrawing the United States from a landmark multinational accord aimed at denying Iran a nuclear weapon.
The maximum pressure campaign was enforced in an effort to coerce Iran back to the negotiating table. Instead, Iran repeatedly reneged on its responsibilities under the deal, enriching and stockpiling uranium.
After returning to the White House in 2025, Trump reinstated the maximum pressure campaign, under which Shamkhani and dozens of people, entities and vessels were sanctioned in July of that year.
Then amid Israel’s war against Iran-backed Hamas in Gaza, the U.S. military attacked Iran’s main nuclear facilities last June, resulting in Trump claiming they had “obliterated” its nuclear program.
Late last month, allies the United States and Israel attacked Iran, killing both Ali Shamkhani and Khamenei, along with other senior Iranian officials, and launching a war that is currently nearing the end of a two-week ceasefire to negotiate a permanent end to the war.