Reuters reported that the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said Monday it had designated 35 individuals and companies for their alleged involvement in sanctions evasion and terrorism financing.
OFAC said the targets helped Iran’s military — including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps — gain access to the international financial system to collect proceeds from illicit oil sales, procure sensitive components needed for missiles and other weapons systems, and transfer funds to regional proxy forces.
Those designated include private companies known as “Ravar” that worked with banks including Sina Bank, which the report said is controlled by Iran’s supreme leader; the military-linked Sepah Bank; and Shahr Bank, which was involved in oil sales. Iran’s banks, cut off from Western financial networks, have used such private networks to run thousands of shell companies abroad to process payments, the report said.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement that Iran’s shadow financial system is “a critical financial lifeline” for the military and enables activities that disrupt global trade and fuel violence across the Middle East. He said illicit funds moving through the network support Iran’s “ongoing terrorist operations” and pose a direct threat to the United States, regional allies and the global economy.
The Treasury Department also warned that financial institutions dealing with China’s small independent “teapot” refineries could face sanctions, citing concerns that the refineries pay Iran transit fees to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.
Bessent wrote on social media platform X earlier Monday that the Treasury Department, through an “Economic Fury” operation, targeted Iran’s international shadow financial infrastructure and access routes to cryptocurrency, the so-called “shadow fleet,” weapons procurement networks, funding channels for regional proxy forces, and China’s independent “teapot” refineries that support Iran’s oil trade.
He said the measures blocked “tens of billions of dollars” in revenue that could be used for terrorism, and added that under the president’s “maximum pressure” policy, prices in Tehran have doubled and the currency has sharply weakened.
Bessent also said Iran’s main crude export terminal on Kharg Island is expected to near its storage capacity limit, forcing Iran to cut oil production. He said that could lead to additional revenue losses of about $170 million a day and cause permanent damage to Iran’s oil infrastructure.
He said the Treasury Department would continue maximum pressure and warned that individuals, ships and institutions that help illicit funds flow to Tehran risk U.S. sanctions.
Bessent had also warned the previous day that sanctions could be imposed on individuals or companies that do business with an Iranian airline already under U.S. sanctions.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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