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Washington imposes sanctions on Iranian-linked shipping fleet tied to regime elite
The U.S. government announced on Wednesday a sweeping new round of sanctions against Iran, targeting over 50 individuals, entities, and more than 50 ships allegedly connected to a commercial fleet controlled by the son of a prominent Iranian official.
In what it described as the “largest Iran-related sanctions package since 2018,” the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned a network linked to Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani, the son of Ali Shamkhani, a senior advisor to Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
According to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, “The Shamkhani family's maritime empire reveals how regime elites exploit their status to amass wealth and support Iran’s destabilizing activities.” The new sanctions are part of a broader U.S. effort to reapply maximum pressure on Tehran and disrupt its oil revenue streams.
Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani is said to operate between Iran and the United Arab Emirates, where many of the sanctioned entities are based. U.S. officials claim the network oversees a substantial portion of Iran’s oil exports, generating billions of dollars annually—mainly through sales to Chinese buyers.
The sanctions are intended to block the fleet’s international operations and weaken Iran’s capacity to fund activities that Washington describes as threats to global stability.