The Trump administration has targeted Iranian oil sales by sanctioning the vast shipping empire run by the son of the country’s top political adviser, following the US attacks on Iran’s nuclear site last month.
“Today, the Ministry of Finance sanctions more than 115 individuals, groups and vessels that make up the enormous shipping empire controlled by Mohammed (Hossein) Shamhani, the son of the top political adviser of the Supreme Leader,” Deputy Chief of Treasury Michael Falkender said.
“The Hossein Shamhani network, which controls a significant portion of Iran’s crude oil exports, has touchpoints all over the world. This is a clear example of significant abuse of Iran’s international financial system, helping the regime and Hossein Shamhani himself generate billions of dollars.”
US authorities have said that the Hossein network will most frequently sell Iranian and Russian crude oil to China, with the penalty being the most important sanctions imposed on Iran in recent years.
The move comes when President Donald Trump’s special envoy group, Steve Witkov, told people that pursuing Iran’s nuclear deal talks is no longer a short-term priority for an administration following the US strike at Iran’s nuclear site.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the Trump administration will continue to impose the biggest pressure policy on the Iranian administration “until Iran accepts a deal that promotes peace and stability in the region and a deal that refrains from all nuclear aspirations.”
“Today’s actions underscore our resolve to target people who enable Iran’s illegal oil and petrochemical trade and cut off the regime’s means of funding its unstable activities,” Rubio said.
The profits from oil sales are a key source of revenue for the Iranian administration, which the Trump administration is trying to drive.
At the beginning of the year, Iranians exported about 1.8 million barrels per day, with recent US figures showing that Iran is currently exporting about 1.2 million barrels per day, according to a Treasury official. During the Trump administration’s biggest pressure campaign during Trump’s first term, Iran exported hundreds of thousands of barrels a day, officials said.
Following the US attack on Iran’s nuclear land, the US will work aggressively behind the scenes through intermediaries and restart nuclear talks with Iran, CNN reports. However, these talks were never scheduled and efforts were placed on the backburner to reinvolve.
“They want to talk. I’ve erased their site so I’m not going to hurry up,” Trump said in July.
In some conversations, Witkov claimed that major infrastructure at three sites targeted by US airstrikes would be destroyed, and it would take Iran again to enrich uranium, one source said. The ratings from Trump’s top envoys appear to contradict the pentagon. Intelligence states that the program itself was “1-2 years.”
CNN contacted Witkov’s office for comment.
U.S. officials also provide different ratings to their counterparts about how long it will take them to start to be fulfilled again in a few weeks after the US strike from 3-10, sources said.