The US Treasury on Friday slapped new sanctions on ships and their owners it accuses of enriching the Iranian state and fueling its repression following mass killings of protestors earlier this month.
The measures targeting nine vessels from what the United States dubs Iran's "shadow fleet", their owners and management firms, saying their activities have together exported hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of Iranian oil and petroleum products.
“The Iranian regime is engaged in a ritual of economic self-immolation—a process that has been accelerated by President Trump’s maximum pressure campaign. Tehran’s decision to support terrorists over its own people has caused Iran's currency and living conditions to be in free fall,” US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was quoted as saying in a statement.
“Today’s sanctions target a critical component of how Iran generates the funds used to repress its own people. As previously outlined, Treasury will continue to track the tens of millions of dollars that the regime has stolen and is desperately attempting to wire to banks outside of Iran."
The new US sanctions come after the treasury last week announced sanctions on several top Iranian commanders and the country's powerful security chief Ali Larijani, whom it accused of being "architects" of the violence.
Iranian security forces opened fired on protestors nationwide in violence that culminated on Jan. 8-9 this month which medics and government sources told Iran International claimed the lives of at least 12,000 people.
The number may be more than 20,000, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Iran said Thursday, citing reports from doctors inside the country.
