The US has sanctioned 17 tankers that it says helped keep Iranian oil and petrochemical exports moving, as Tehran’s crude held on ships beyond the US blockade perimeter falls to around 20 million barrels.
The Treasury Department announced the measures on Thursday under Operation Economic Outcast, its pressure campaign against Iran. The department said Iran has stopped loading and offloading oil because of the blockade around its ports.
The ships were used to carry petroleum and petrochemical products to overseas markets despite US sanctions. Their cargoes included crude oil, naphtha, liquefied petroleum gas, fuel oil, bitumen, methanol and ammonia, with deliveries reaching South and East Asia, including China, India and Pakistan.
They sail under flags from more than a dozen jurisdictions, including the Bahamas, Panama, Hong Kong, Mongolia, Zanzibar, Cameroon, Comoros, Gambia, Palau, San Marino, Sierra Leone and Vanuatu. Treasury said international front companies controlled the vessels.
The department identified several ships by name and described the scale of their operations. The Cameroon-flagged SHENZHEN transported more than 3.5 million barrels of Iranian crude oil since November 2025.
SOGL, an LPG tanker flying the Comoros flag, moved more than two million barrels of Iranian propane and butane beginning in September 2025. The Panama-flagged STARWAY carried over three million barrels of Iranian naphtha over the course of 2025, while KANHA carried over 3 million barrels of fuel oil since 2021.
Treasury also designated 18 companies linked to the vessels under Executive Order 13902. It said the latest action “effectively neutralizes the vast majority” of Iran’s remaining shadow fleet.
Scott Bessent, the Treasury secretary, said: “Treasury is starving the tyrannical regime in Tehran of the money it uses to wage war in the region, and we will continue exposing those who enable the regime’s oil sales”.
He added: “No enabler of Iranian sanctions evasion is safe from the full force of Treasury’s authorities”.
The department removed two vessels, HAKUNA MATATA and PINOCCHIO, from its sanctions list after they were sold to non-sanctioned, US-aligned operators. The pair had been designated in June 2025 as part of Iran’s shadow fleet.
Under the sanctions, property and property interests of designated entities within US jurisdiction are blocked, and transactions involving them are prohibited unless the Office of Foreign Assets Control authorises them. Foreign financial institutions that conduct significant transactions with designated entities could face secondary sanctions, while violations can bring civil or criminal penalties, Treasury warned.
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