ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The US Treasury Department on Monday unleashed sweeping economic sanctions in what it described as an “unprecedented” economic campaign against Iran, dubbed Operation Economic Outcast.
“Our objective is to sever every economic lifeline that sustains this tyrannical regime until Tehran stands alone,” said Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, according to a US Treasury press release.
The US Treasury mapped the networks, facilitators, and financial channels that Iran uses to smuggle oil, evade sanctions, and fund terror in “uncompromising” resolve to target “any source of the regime’s illicit revenue.”
Monday’s announcement expands secondary sanctions exposure for those who continue doing business with the Iranian government spanning five critical sectors: digital assets, technology, gold, aviation, and shipping.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned nearly 60 entities, individuals, and vessels in multiple jurisdictions, including “illicit nuclear and missile technology procurement, cyber operations, and oil‑revenue generation networks.”
OFAC suspended several general licenses that previously authorized certain remittance payments to Iran and Iranian access to the US “cultural and academic system, and issued additional guidance on the sanctions risks of bowing to Iranian demands related to shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.”
The 60 Iran-linked entities include a network of brokers, companies, and shadow fleet vessels operating across the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Switzerland, Europe and other regions to transport Iranian oil and channel revenue to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) elite Quds force, its external arm, and other regime elements.
The US Treasury also moved to designate several international companies that operate within Iran’s petroleum sector and enable the deceptive movement and sale of Iranian crude and petroleum products.
Sanctions extended to disruptions in Iran’s Global Procurement Network for Sensitive Nuclear and Missile Technology to target a network of “more than 20 entities and individuals spanning the Middle East and East Asia that financially and logistically support the Iranian regime’s procurement of critical technology for nuclear research and missile development.”
In addition, the Treasury announced action against “multiple shadow fleet vessels responsible for the unauthorized transport of millions of barrels of Iranian crude oil and petroleum products,” identifying them as “an essential lifeline to the Iranian regime, which relies on the sale of oil and other petroleum products to provide vital revenue to fund its military, among other necessities.”
