The U.S. Treasury Department took decisive action on Wednesday, imposing sanctions on Iran’s covert oil transportation network and other systems that bolster the country’s ballistic missile capabilities.
These sanctions, announced by the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, target over 30 individuals, organizations, and ships involved in the unauthorized sale of Iranian oil. This trade is a key revenue stream used to fund domestic oppression, terrorism, and military weapons initiatives.
Among the sanctioned items are at least 12 ships that have allegedly transported millions of barrels of oil for Iran’s regime, even as the government faces a violent crackdown on protesters nationwide.
The sanctions also extend to entities based in Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and Iran, which supply crucial materials and advanced machinery to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics (MODAFL).
In a 2020 disclosure, the State Department noted that employees from some of these sanctioned entities had traveled to Russia and Venezuela to provide technical support.
“Iran manipulates financial systems to sell illegal oil, conceal the profits, acquire components for its nuclear and conventional weapons programs, and back its terrorist allies,” stated Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
“Under President Trump’s strong leadership, Treasury will continue to put maximum pressure on Iran to target the regime’s weapons capabilities and support for terrorism, which it has prioritized over the lives of the Iranian people.”
All of the individuals and entities will be barred from the US financial system.
More than 875 “persons, vessels, and aircraft” linked to Iran have been targeted since the Trump administration’s maximum pressure campaign started back up in 2025.
Wednesday’s announcement came one day ahead of talks with Iranian officials in Geneva as the US inches closer to military action.
Witkoff stunned observers when he told Fox News on Feb. 21 that Iran was “probably a week away from having industrial-grade bomb-making material” — after US airstrikes obliterated three of the regime’s nuclear sites in June 2025.
That claim was echoed by President Trump in his State of the Union address Tuesday night, when he said the Islamic Republic was seeking to start its nuclear program “all over … and are, at this moment, again pursuing their sinister ambitions.“
The president also claimed that Iran has already developed missiles capable of striking US military bases in Europe and the Middle East.
“This is some terrible people,” Trump said. “They’ve already developed missiles that can threaten Europe and our bases overseas, and they’re working to build missiles that will soon reach the United States of America.”
Iranian officials have publicly denied the claims from the president.
Iran Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said Wednesday: “Whatever [the US is] alleging in regards to Iran’s nuclear program, Iran’s ballistic missiles, and the number of casualties during January’s unrest is simply the repetition of big lies.”
It’s unclear exactly how many protesters were slaughtered by the regime amid demonstrations over poor economic conditions in Tehran that began in December.
Trump said in his address to Congress that Iran had killed 32,000 of its own citizens.
The Human Rights Activists News Agency, which relies on a network of informants inside Iran, estimated roughly 6,500 protesters were slain.
Another 11,744 cases remain “under review” by the human rights watchdog.
Trump first threatened to bomb Iran on Jan. 2 if authorities continued killing anti-regime protesters, later deploying two US aircraft carrier groups into position for possible strikes.
