The Treasury Department on Thursday sanctioned 17 more tankers and 18 companies it says make up what remains of Iran’s “shadow fleet,” the clandestine shipping network Tehran uses to sell oil in defiance of US restrictions.
The action, carried out under an executive order targeting Iran’s petroleum and petrochemical sectors, is part of a wider pressure campaign the administration calls Operation Economic Outcast. A Treasury official told reporters it represents the most significant blow yet to Iran’s remaining illicit maritime infrastructure, effectively neutralising the vast majority of the fleet. The State Department separately sanctioned five additional vessels, ten entities and six individuals, bringing the total ships hit this week to 22.
According to Treasury, the designated vessels carried millions of barrels of Iranian crude, naphtha, liquefied petroleum gas, fuel oil, bitumen, methanol and ammonia to buyers in South and East Asia. The department cited individual ships by name and cargo: one Panama-flagged tanker was credited with moving more than three million barrels of Iranian naphtha since 2025, another with over 100,000 barrels of bitumen this year alone. Owners and managers of the ships are scattered across more than a dozen jurisdictions, flying flags from the Bahamas and Panama to Cameroon, Comoros and Vanuatu.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent framed the move as cutting off the money Tehran spends on war and on its regional proxies, warning that no enabler of Iranian sanctions evasion would be safe from US authorities. Two container ships that left the shadow fleet and were sold to non-sanctioned operators were removed from the list — a signal, officials suggested, that there is an exit ramp for firms that cut ties.
The practical stakes extend well beyond the named hulls. Because the campaign leans on secondary sanctions, any bank, insurer or trader doing business with the designated network risks US penalties of its own — which is precisely the point, officials said.
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