US Treasury Sanctions Tankers in the Name of Helping Iranian Protestors

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced on Friday, January 23, that it is increasing pressure on Iran by sanctioning nine additional tankers and their respective owners. In announcing the action, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said it was going after Iran’s funding to increase pressure as the regime is killing peaceful protestors. . . . At the end of 2025, the well-known NGO UANI (United Against Nuclear Iran) reported that it had identified 83 new vessels engaged in smuggling Iranian oil, bringing the total number of tankers tracked to 560 vessels. Out of the 180 tankers sanctioned in 2025, it said 108 were previously identified by UANI. Despite that, UANI calculated a 13.5 percent increase in the total number of barrels of Iranian oil exported in 2025. It said the exports topped 666 million barrels last year, with China by far and away taking most of the oil.