The US Treasury Department declared new sanctions against the Iranian currency exchange company Amin Exchange and a network of related firms, as well as 19 vessels that transported Iranian oil and petroleum products.
Reuters reports this.
The vessels, according to Washington, were used to deliver Iranian oil to foreign buyers. They include the Barbados-flagged tanker Great Sail, as well as the Palau-flagged Ocean Wave and Swift Falcon vessels.
Sanctions were also imposed against Amin Exchange, which used a wide network of shell companies in the UAE, Turkey, and Hong Kong to circumvent sanctions and provide Iran with access to the international financial system.
Washington claims that through such exchange networks, Iran conducts currency transactions worth billions of dollars every year, and controlled structures carry out transactions worth hundreds of millions of dollars on behalf of Iranian banks.
"Iranʼs shadow banking system facilitates the illicit transfer of funds for terrorist purposes," said US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
The sanctions list also included companies from China, Hong Kong, and the UAE, which, according to OFAC, helped Amin Exchange conduct financial transactions.
- As part of Operation Economic Fury, the US on May 9 already imposed sanctions on ten people and companies that helped Iran procure weapons and materials for the production of “Shahed” drones and ballistic missiles.
For more news and in-depth stories from Ukraine, please follow us on X.