The US issued new sanctions against Iran on Wednesday, targeting more than 30 individuals and companies connected to its so-called shadow fleet.
The fleet is a network of oil tankers and firms used by Iran to transport petroleum to foreign markets in defiance of international sanctions.
Scott Bessent, Secretary of the Treasury, said the Trump administration will continue to apply “maximum pressure” on Tehran. “Iran exploits financial systems to sell illicit oil, launder the proceeds, procure components for its nuclear and conventional weapons programmes, and support its terrorist proxies,” Mr Bessent said.
Eleven tankers, including the Panama-flagged Hoot and the Palau-flagged Alaa, were sanctioned, as well as four people and about a dozen companies.
The State Department said the measures target the “illicit funds that the regime uses to advance its malign and destabilising ends”.
The sanctions also targeted networks that enable Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Ministry of Defence to secure the materials and machinery required for ballistic missile and other weapons production, the Treasury said.
The move comes after US President Donald Trump took aim at Tehran in his State of the Union address on Tuesday night.
During his speech before Congress, Mr Trump said Iran has already developed missiles that are a threat to European and American bases and the regime is working to build missiles that will soon reach the US.
“My preference is to solve this problem through diplomacy,” the President said. “But one thing is certain, I will never allow the world's number-one sponsor of terror – which they are by far – to have a nuclear weapon.”
Mr Trump added that talks on the future of Iran's nuclear programme were continuing but negotiators had yet to hear “those secret words: we will never have a nuclear weapon”.
