US Hits Iran's Shadow Fleet with Largest Sanctions Since 2018

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Friday August 1, 2025

The US has launched its largest Iran-related sanctions action since 2018, targeting more than 50 vessels.

More than 50 individuals and entities have been sanctioned, linked to Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani, the son of a top advisor to Iran's Supreme Leader, Ali Shamkhani, the US Treasury Department said in a statement on Wednesday.

The department alleges Hossein used his father's political influence to build and operate a large network of tankers and containerships.

This network transports oil and petroleum products from Iran and Russia, as well as other cargo, to buyers around the world, generating tens of billions of dollars in profits, it said.

"The Shamkhani family's shipping empire highlights how the Iranian regime elites leverage their positions to accrue massive wealth and fund the regime's dangerous behaviour," Scott Bessent, Secretary of the Treasury, said.

"The over 115 sanctions issued today are the largest to date since the Trump Administration implemented our campaign of maximum pressure on Iran."

According to the Treasury, Hossein's network includes a fleet of vessels, ship managers, and front companies - some posing as financial firms -that launder billions from Iranian and Russian oil sales, mostly to China.

Several companies registered in the UAE that are part of this network have also been sanctioned.

The list of individuals, entities and ships sanctioned can be viewed here.