First US sanctions against Iran after Trump revives maximum pressure campaign

The US issued its first set of sanctions against Iran under the Trump administration on Thursday over what it said was a network that facilitated illicit Iranian crude worth hundreds of millions of dollars to China.

“The United States will not tolerate Iran’s destructive and destabilizing behavior and is today sanctioning an international network that channels illicit revenue to the Iranian military,” State Department Spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said.

The network allegedly helped transport Iranian oil to China to help fund Iran’s Armed Forces General Staff through its front company Sepehr Energy. Shadow fleet vessels that aided the transport were also sanctioned.

“We will disrupt illicit funding streams financing Iran’s armed forces and terrorist groups, such as Hamas and Hezbollah,” Bruce said, adding that the US would use all the tools at its disposal to hold the regime accountable for its destabilizing behavior and its pursuit of nuclear weapons.

The Treasury Department said entities and individuals in China, India and UAE had all been sanctioned.

For his part, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Iran was focused on oil revenues to help fund the development of its nuclear program and to produce ballistic missiles and drones. “The United States is committed to aggressively targeting any attempt by Iran to secure funding for these malign activities,” he said.

The Treasury Department said Thursday’s moves were in line with the memo signed by President Donald Trump this week to reinstate the maximum pressure campaign against Iran.

Trump signed a national security memo, “Imposing Maximum Pressure on the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Denying Iran All Paths to a Nuclear Weapon, and Countering Iran’s Malign Influence,” on Tuesday to increase American pressure and sanctions on Iran despite him saying he “hated doing it.” On Wednesday, he said he wanted Iran to be “a great and successful” country but could not have a nuclear weapon. “Reports that the United States, working in conjunction with Israel, is going to blow Iran into smithereens,” ARE GREATLY EXAGGERATED,” he said in a post on Truth.