US sanctions network that helps ship Iranian oil to China

Donald Trump

The US Department of Treasury on Thursday imposed sanctions on a network of more than a dozen people and firms that are accused of facilitating the shipment of millions of barrels of Iranian oil to China.

The department's Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned more than dozen people and companies in China, India and the United Arab Emirates. The targets include Iranian and Indian citizens, crew management firms and a collection of ships.

“The Iranian regime remains focused on leveraging its oil revenues to fund the development of its nuclear program, to produce its deadly ballistic missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles, and to support its regional terrorist proxy groups,” said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in a news release.

During his confirmation hearing, Bessent criticized the Biden administration’s sanctions policies and called for the US to have a more “muscular” sanctions regime, including on Iran and Russian entities and oil.

Tammy Bruce, a State Department spokeswoman, said in a Thursday statement that the US “will use all tools at our disposal to hold the regime accountable for its destabilizing activities and pursuit of nuclear weapons that threaten the civilized world.”

While signing an executive order on Tuesday mandating the US government to impose maximum pressure on Tehran, President Donald Trump told reporters that “we will see whether or not we can arrange or work out a deal with Iran.”

“We don’t want to be tough on Iran. We don’t want to be tough on anybody,” Trump said. “But they just can’t have a nuclear bomb.”

Trump added that he’s given his advisers instructions to obliterate Iran if it assassinates him.

Iranian officials appear to signal that they are waiting for a message from Trump on whether he wants to negotiate over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program.