With negotiations to end the war with Iran imminent, the United States announced new sanctions targeting Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) while indicting an Iranian national on terrorism charges. The moves are seen as an attempt to gain leverage by intensifying economic pressure on Iran's vulnerabilities up to the final stage of negotiations.
According to Reuters on Sunday, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) under the US Treasury Department said it imposed sanctions on eight vessels involved in transporting Iranian crude oil and petroleum products to global markets. The move came just one day after the United States added Iran's Persian Gulf Strait Authority to the sanctions list, marking another round of sanctions targeting Iranian oil. The Persian Gulf Strait Authority is an agency Iran recently established, saying it would manage passage through the Strait of Hormuz.
The sanctions targets announced by OFAC included the Marshall Islands-flagged tanker Flora, the Comoros-flagged crude oil tanker Hunkayo, and the Panama-flagged tanker Il Gap. The United States also imposed sanctions on more than 15 companies and entities, including Hong Kong-based Worth Shin Energy Limited, Dubai-based Symphony Shipping and Maritime Management, and Hong Kong-based Mediyev Trading.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he would also sanction Iranian airlines. "We will cut off landing points, refueling, and ticket sales access for Iranian airlines," he wrote on social media that day. He did not specify which airlines, however. "We are continuing our 'economic fury' campaign against the Iranian regime," Bessent added. "Iran's economy and currency are in free fall."
On the same day, the State Department and Justice Department also took action. The State Department said it would designate eight vessels owned or managed by eight companies involved in transporting Iranian oil and petrochemical products as targets for asset freezes. It also said it would impose additional sanctions on three companies and one individual related to the trade of Iranian petrochemical products. The US government believes Iranian oil exports ultimately flow into the IRGC's operating funds.
The US Justice Department indicted Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi, a dual Iranian-Iraqi national, on eight terrorism-related charges. Al-Saadi, described as a key operative of Hezbollah and the IRGC, planned terrorist attacks in the United States, including an attempted attack on a New York synagogue between March and April this year. He is also known to have directly planned and directed about 18 terrorist attacks in Europe, including a drone attack on the Israeli Embassy in London, an attack on a London synagogue, and a knife attack on two Jewish people. Al-Saadi was arrested abroad on the day after he attempted to order additional attacks within the United States on the 30th of last month. The maximum sentence amounts to life imprisonment, the Justice Department said.
