The U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Wednesday (25 February) on more than 30 individuals, entities and "shadow fleet" vessels it said enabled Iran's illicit petroleum sales, ballistic missiles and weapons production.
Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control also targeted multiple networks that enable Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces Logistics to secure the precursor materials and machinery required for ballistic missile and other weapons production, the department said.
U.S. President Donald Trump has launched a campaign to clamp down on Iran's economy.
He also sent U.S. military forces to the Middle East and warned of a possible attack if Tehran does not reach a deal to resolve the longstanding dispute over its nuclear program.
Trump briefly laid out his case for a possible attack in his State of the Union address to Congress on Tuesday night.
Iran says its nuclear research is for civilian energy production. A senior Iranian official told Reuters on Sunday that Tehran and Washington remain sharply divided over which sanctions should be lifted and when.
Iran did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the new sanctions.
The sanctions targeted 12 shadow fleet vessels and their owners or operators that have collectively transported hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of Iranian petroleum and petrochemical products, the Treasury said.
The shadow fleet refers to ships that carry oil that is under sanctions. They are typically old, their ownership opaque and they sail without the top-tier insurance cover needed to meet international standards for major oil companies and many ports.
"Iran exploits financial systems to sell illicit oil, launder the proceeds, procure components for its nuclear and conventional weapons programs, and support its terrorist proxies," Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent said in a statement.
U.S. President Donald Trump said he had "no problem" with any country sending crude to Cuba as a Russian tanker neared a Cuban port with a badly needed shipment, signalling he was reversing course on blocking oil shipments to the country on Sunday.
The European Union has proposed extending its sanctions against Russia to include ports in Georgia and Indonesia that handle Russian oil, the first time the bloc would target ports in third countries, a proposal document showed on Monday.
Ukraine has carried out its first aerial drone strike on a Russian “shadow fleet” oil tanker in the Mediterranean Sea, reflecting a growing intensity in Kyiv’s attacks on Russian oil shipping, officials said on Friday (19 December).
Kyiv has escalated its naval campaign against Moscow’s economic lifelines, claiming a successful strike on a vessel suspected of skirting international sanctions within the Black Sea.
Cuba and the United States have been at odds for more than six decades, with tensions rooted in the 1959 revolution that transformed the island’s political and economic system. Renewed focus on relations comes as Donald Trump’s rhetoric intensifies and conditions on the island worsen.
NASA is aiming to launch its Artemis 2 mission on Wednesday (1 April), sending astronauts on a 10-day journey around the Moon, officials confirmed. According to the Space Administration, the launch window is due to open at 23:24 GMT, with additional opportunities to 6 April if delays occur.
U.S. President Donald Trump has said that the U.S is in talks with the new Iranian regime. He said this in a post on his Truth Social account but warned that the U.S. will "Obliterate" Iran's electric and oil facilities if no deal is reached, especially regarding the Strait of Hormuz closure.
The four astronauts selected for NASA’s Artemis II mission have arrived in Florida, entering the final phase of preparations for the first crewed journey towards the Moon in more than five decades
Iranian Military Spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Ibrahim Zulfiqari has warned that American soldiers will become 'food for sharks' if U.S. President Donald Trump launches ground attacks against Iran. The threat comes after the U.S. military said it was deploying thousands of Marines to the region.
Russia has expelled a British diplomat, accusing him of economic espionage in a move that further strains already tense relations between Moscow and London. The United Kingdom described the action as intimidation and rejected the allegations outright, Reuters reports.
Two sailboats carrying humanitarian aid from Mexico arrived safely in Havana on Saturday, the Mexican Navy said, concluding a journey in which the vessels were delayed by bad weather and briefly reported missing.
China imposed sanctions on Japanese lawmaker Keiji Furuya on Monday, who is a close aide of Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, due to his "collusion with Taiwan independence" forces, in its latest move in a diplomatic row over Taiwan.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he talked about a possible security partnership on Sunday with Jordan's King Abdullah over defending against drone attacks amid rising tensions over the Iran conflict.
U.S. President Donald Trump said he had "no problem" with any country sending crude to Cuba as a Russian tanker neared a Cuban port with a badly needed shipment, signalling he was reversing course on blocking oil shipments to the country on Sunday.
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