The United States has imposed sanctions on individuals affiliated with an international network accused of selling millions of barrels of Iranian oil to China. The Trump administration alleges that the network was funneling funds to Iran's armed forces and terrorist proxies. The sanctions were announced on Thursday, following President Trump's vow to put "maximum pressure" on Iran.
The State Department stated that the US will not tolerate Iran's "destructive and destabilizing behavior" and that the sanctions target an international network that channels illicit revenue to the Iranian military.
The oil was shipped to China on behalf of Iran's Armed Forces General Staff (AFGS) by Sepehr Energy, which the Trump administration describes as a "front company" for the Iranian military. According to the Treasury Department, the illicit crude oil shipments generated "hundreds of millions of dollars" in revenue for the Iranian regime, funds that are also used to finance its nuclear weapons program.
The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) found that Sepehr Energy and its affiliate companies falsified maritime documents to conceal the Iranian origin of the oil they traded and transported to China and other overseas buyers. OFAC also noted that the Iranian regime took steps to hide the true name of the Anthea, a Comoros-flagged and sanctioned oil tanker involved in the shipping scheme. The India-based company that provided crews for the vessel also falsified documents presented to port authorities.
The Treasury Department designated two other ships, the Panama-flagged CH Billion and the Hong Kong-flagged Star Forest, as acting as a "shadow fleet" for Iran for their role in transporting Iranian oil to China. These vessels, as recently as January 2025, onboarded Iranian crude oil from storage in China, part of a scheme involving Iran's military, which stands to profit from the sale of the oil on these vessels.
The Treasury Department has frozen the US assets of several individuals connected to the scheme. The new sanctions follow Trump's executive order earlier this week to reimpose "maximum pressure" on Tehran. As part of the order, Trump directed the Treasury and State Secretaries to tighten sanctions on Iran's oil sales and enforce violations of existing restrictions in a bid to reduce its exports to "zero."