Fishermen drive past a commercial ship anchored off the coast of Yemen in Bab al-Mandeb, a strait that connects the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean, on September 12, 2026.
– | AFP | Getty Images
The U.S. Treasury Department is sanctioning 17 more ships for being linked to Iran’s “shadow fleet” used to transport oil and gas out of the country, as the U.S. government seeks to strangle Iran’s economy to end a war that began more than seven months ago.
The new sanctions are part of Operation Economic Exile, the name given to the US pressure campaign against Iran. The new designation is aimed at further restricting Iranian oil and petrochemical shipments and revenues.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement: “The Treasury Department is starving the oppressive regime in Tehran of funds it can use to wage war in the region. We will continue to expose those who enable the regime’s oil sales.” “Those who enable Iran to evade sanctions cannot escape the full force of Treasury officials.”
The new sanctioned vessels are registered in more than a dozen jurisdictions, and the Treasury Department said in a press release that they are responsible for transporting millions of barrels of Iranian crude oil, oil and petrochemicals. The United States has long argued that Iran uses illicit oil revenues to fund its regime and affiliated terrorist proxies, and that by blocking those revenues it wants to cripple Iran’s economy.
All vessels subject to sanctions will be newly designated. And while the specific measures announced Thursday are not expected to cause major changes to Iran’s economy in and of themselves, they target “remnants” of Iran’s shadow fleet to complement existing sanctions aimed at limiting Iran’s ability to attack ships and maintain its regime in the Strait of Hormuz, the Treasury Department said.
The targeted vessels included the Vanuatu-flagged TINA 5, which the Treasury Department said transported more than 1.5 million barrels of Iranian crude oil in August. Comoros-flagged LPG tanker SOGL. Since September 2025, it has transported more than 2 million barrels of Iranian propane and butane, according to the Treasury Department. The Cameroon-flagged crude oil tanker Shenzhen has transported more than 3.5 million barrels of Iranian crude oil since November 2025, the Ministry of Finance announced.
Treasury officials said Iran has stopped offloading oil as the United States continues to blockade the country’s ports. The Iranian government has not loaded any crude oil for export since August 25, according to Kpler data.
The US war with Iran caused great disruption and chaos in the world economy oil Gasoline prices also rose as Iran seeks to prevent its closure of the Strait of Hormuz. The strait is one of the most important entry and exit points for oil and gas from the Gulf region.
The war has also caused a spike in gasoline prices in the United States ahead of November’s midterm elections. The national average for gasoline on Thursday was $4.36 per gallon, according to AAA.
—CNBC’s Spencer Kimball contributed to this report.
