The US Department of the Treasury on Thursday imposed broad new sanctions on what it described as a network helping Iran evade restrictions on its petroleum exports and fund illicit activities.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) added more than 50 individuals, companies, vessels, and aircraft to its Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list, focusing on front companies and shipping entities linked to Iran's Sepehr Energy Jahan Nama Pars Company — a key oil broker — and the already-sanctioned Mahan Air.
“Today’s action continues Treasury’s campaign to cut off funding for the Iranian regime’s development of nuclear weapons and support of terrorist proxies,” Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent said in a statement.“Disrupting the Iranian regime’s revenue is critical to helping curb its nuclear ambitions.”
Among the designated individuals are Singapore-based Fadzlon Bin Ahmad and his son Muhammad Danial Bin Fadzlon, who managed covert payments for Iranian oil, according to the Treasury announcement.
Several Iranian nationals directly tied to Mahan Air and Sepehr Energy operations were also added to the list, including Mohammad Reza Moaref Jahromi, Mohammad Mahdi Maghfoori, Ahmad Ghaedi, Hamidreza Heidari, Sayyed Mojtaba Hosseini, and Kaveh Rostami Zahabi.
Carriers and companies
UAE-based ship management firms including Alsafeenah Althahabya, Deep Current Shipping, and Mars Investment, as well as Singapore shipping entities Anbo Shipping and Strasselink, were designated.
Indian firm RN Ship Management and a newly established carrier, Yazd International Airways Company, which the treasury said was a front company for previously designated Mahan Air, were sanctioned as well.
A series of shadow-fleet oil and LPG tankers flying flags of convenience (Panama, Comoros, Cameroon, Palau, Gambia) were sanctioned for transporting Iranian petroleum products. Seven additional aircraft operated by Mahan Air were also designated.
Treasury officials say the action disrupts critical revenue streams Iran uses to fund proxies and destabilize the region, closing loopholes exploited through UAE, Singapore, and India-based facilitators.
The sanctions were announced the same day the IAEA Board of Governors passed a resolution demanding Iran provide urgent access and information on its enriched uranium stocks and bombed nuclear sites.
Pezeshkian said the pressure on water, land and infrastructure had left the government with “no option” but to act. “When we said we must move the capital, we did not even have enough budget. If we had, maybe it would have been done. The reality is that we no longer have a choice; it is an obligation,” he said in a speech in Qazvin.
He said Tehran now faces “catastrophe” as land in parts of the capital sinks by up to 30 centimeters a year and water supplies shrink. “When we say the land subsides 30 centimeters each day, this means disaster,” he said. He warned that mismanagement, construction in upstream areas and cuts to downstream water flows risk irreversible damage.
Pezeshkian said officials across government must work together or “a dark future” awaits. “Protecting the environment is not a joke,” he said. “Ignoring it means signing our own destruction.”
The president said the mismatch between water resources and demand had reached a breaking point. “We can bring water from the Persian Gulf, but it will be costly,” he said, arguing that Tehran’s population and construction load can no longer expand.
Makran: potential and limits
Iran announced in January that the government was studying plans to move the capital to the southern Makran coast, a remote region overlooking the Gulf of Oman. Officials said the shift could ease Tehran’s overcrowding, energy shortages and water stress.
The idea has surfaced repeatedly since the 1979 revolution but has stalled due to political resistance and soaring costs. Past administrations explored alternatives including Semnan, Qom and Isfahan but financial constraints halted progress.
Officials have said Makran’s coastline offers access to the Indian Ocean and a base for sea-linked economic projects. The area includes Chabahar, Iran’s only oceanic port and a gateway to Central Asia.
But critics say the region is underdeveloped, exposed to security risks and far from ready to host a national capital. Opponents argue the country cannot afford the tens of billions of dollars such a move would require at a time of economic strain, high inflation and renewed UN sanctions.