Overview
- Treasury and State, which rolled out the campaign Wednesday, blacklisted three people, 17 entities, and nine tankers tied to Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani’s oil network and an oil‑for‑gold scheme that U.S. officials say funds Hezbollah and the IRGC‑QF.
- The designations freeze U.S. assets and bar U.S. persons from dealings, and Treasury warned that non‑U.S. firms that transact with the network could face secondary sanctions that cut them off from the U.S. financial system.
- Treasury said it will not renew short‑term waivers that let pre‑March 11 shipments of Iranian and Russian oil be delivered, with those licenses expiring April 19, a move that could tighten supply for buyers relying on “oil on the water.”
- U.S. forces are enforcing a blockade of Iranian ports and traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, with Central Command reporting no breaches and 10 attempted runners turned back, as Pentagon leaders vow to keep the squeeze and stand ready to resume strikes.
- Bessent said two Chinese banks received warning letters about exposure to Iranian funds, while Beijing called unilateral U.S. sanctions illegal and urged reopening the strait, a chokepoint that carries roughly a quarter of seaborne oil and a fifth of liquefied natural gas.