The United States on 30 July imposed sanctions against a major shipping network controlled by the son of a top aide to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in what the US Treasury Department said was the “largest Iran-related action” since 2018.
The Treasury Department said it had imposed sanctions on more than 50 individuals and entities, as well as “more than 50 vessels that are part of a vast shipping empire controlled by Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani, the son of Ali Shamkhani, the top political adviser” to Khamenei.
According to the agency, the under-sanctioned individual “uses corruption due to his father’s political influence at the highest levels of the Iranian regime to build and operate a huge fleet of tankers and container ships.”
“This network transports oil and petroleum products from Iran and Russia, as well as other cargoes, to buyers around the world, generating tens of billions of dollars in profits,” the statement said.
“The Shamkhani family’s shipping empire demonstrates how the Iranian regime’s elite use their positions to amass vast fortunes and fund dangerous regime behaviour,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.
Earlier this month, the EU imposed sanctions on Shamkhani and his companies for ties to Russia, oil trading and the so-called “shadow fleet” – some 350 vessels with opaque ownership that are believed to be avoiding Western sanctions on Russian oil.
His father, Ali Shamkhani, came under United States sanctions in 2020 for his actions while serving as an admiral in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
According to the US Treasury Department, more than 115 individuals, entities and vessels in total have been sanctioned, including companies based in Hong Kong, Singapore, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and other countries.
This marked the most sweeping measures “since the Trump administration introduced a campaign of maximum pressure on Iran. These actions put America first, targeting regime elites who profit while Tehran threatens the security of the United States,” the statement said.
A spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry called the US actions “an evil act aimed at harming Iran’s economic development and the welfare of its people.”
Separately, the US State Department said it was imposing sanctions against 20 organisations, including companies in India, Indonesia, Turkey and the UAE, for involvement in the trade of Iranian oil products.
State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said the sanctions are aimed at “disrupting the Iranian regime’s ability to fund its destabilising activities, particularly its nuclear programme, support for terrorist groups and oppression of its own people.”
Reuters quoted a U.S. official as saying the actions would make it “much more difficult” for Iran to sell its oil but unlikely to disrupt global energy markets.
The official said Iran’s oil exports have fallen to about 1.2 million barrels a day from 1.8 million barrels a day at the start of the year amid previous U.S. sanctions.