Iran war: US launches economic campaign against Tehran
The US administration has launched ‘Operation Economic Outcast’ – a sweeping move extending secondary sanctions on Tehran and target its revenue lifelines.
IMAGE: Flags of the US and Iran. Getty Images
US treasury secretary Scott Bessent revealed economic measures against Iran on Monday, warning Tehran’s allies and international companies that continuing commercial ties with the country would invite severe financial penalties and total isolation by Washington.
"Every country will be given a defined timeline to shut down the Iran-related activity we have identified,” the treasury department said in a statement.
Non-compliant nations will face punitive US measures, while entities facilitating Iranian money laundering or sanctions evasion risk total exclusion from the US financial network, the treasury department warned.
The US Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has hit nearly 60 individuals, entities and vessels in the fresh round of new sanctions – primarily targeting Iran’s highly valued oil trade.
The US agency has designated international companies that operate within Iran’s oil sector and enable movement and sale of Iranian crude and petroleum products. “Iran’s national tanker service illicitly ships oil for the regime and its military services,” OFAC claimed.
Commercial vessels will face US penalties for engaging with Iran’s Persian Gulf Strait Authority (PGSA), Persian Gulf Marine Insurance Company (PGMIC), and HormuzSafe Marine Services Authority, OFAC said.
Both US and non-US entities are prohibited from “accepting insurance or other services or responding to information demands for guarantees of safe passage,” via these agencies, OFAC added.
US calls out Iran’s shadow fleet network
The new sanctions include a network of shipping companies, brokers and shadow fleet vessels operating across the UAE, Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Switzerland, Europe and other regions to transport Iranian oil, it said.
The US treasury department has sanctioned the Botswana-flagged LPG tanker Sifra, owned Marshall Islands-registered Sifra Shipping Company, for transporting “hundreds of thousands of barrels of Iranian LPG and ethylene since 2025, for reexport to third countries.”
Another target, Cameroon-flagged LPG tanker G Silver, owned by Hong Kong-registered Vienna Shipping, has transported “hundreds of thousands of barrels of Iranian petroleum products,” to Southeast Asia, including Bangladesh, in 2026, for onward shipment to third countries.
The US agency has sanctioned three more vessels and their owners for facilitating similar transactions on behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), it said.
These sweeping measures have slammed the door on any return to diplomatic negotiations in the near term.
“Our objective is to sever every economic lifeline that sustains this tyrannical regime until Tehran stands alone,” Bessent said in his speech on Monday.
Consequently, the Strait of Hormuz is expected to remain effectively sealed off for far longer than initially anticipated, according to market analysts.
By Aparupa Mazumder
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