The US announced new sanctions this Friday (6) against entities, individuals and vessels investigated for links to the illicit transfer of crude oil to finance the Iranian regime. The decision coincides with the meeting between Washington and Tehran in Oman, amid the Trump administration’s continued pressure campaign against the country.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) “is sanctioning numerous entities, individuals and vessels to stem the flow of revenue that the Tehran regime uses to support terrorism abroad and repress its citizens,” the State Department announced in a statement.
The measures, according to the State and Treasury Departments, target 14 vessels from Iran’s so-called “ghost fleet,” 15 entities – based in India and Turkey, among other countries – and two individuals associated with the trade of Iranian crude oil and petrochemicals.
“Iranian exports of these energy products are enabled by a network of illicit shipping facilitators in multiple jurisdictions who, through concealment and deception, load and transport Iranian products to buyers in third countries,” the statement added.
The announcement of the new sanctions comes as talks between Iran and the US began on Friday in Muscat, in what the Persian nation described as a “good start” to easing tensions between the two sides.
These are the first talks between the two countries since the exchange of attacks between Iran and Israel in June and the American bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities.
The two countries held talks last year in Muscat, with Oman acting as mediator, but these ended after the start of the so-called Twelve-Day War between Iran and Israel.
The new negotiations also come at one of the most turbulent periods for the ayatollahs’ regime, following the most violent protests since its founding in 1979 in January, amid a severe economic crisis, widespread public discontent, the worst drought in decades and electricity and gas shortages.
