U.S. Policy
On March 13, 2025, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Iran’s oil minister, Mohsen Paknejad, along with companies in Bangladesh, China, Hong Kong, India and other locations, for involvement in transporting Iranian oil to China in violation of U.S. sanctions. China is reportedly the destination…
On March 12, 2025, the U.S. Treasury sanctioned the Foxtrot Network, a Sweden-based transnational criminal organization, and its leader, Rawa Majid. The organization, known for trafficking illicit drugs, has perpetrated contract killings in the past. In January 2024, the Foxtrot Network…
On Feb. 25, 2025, Ray Hunt of Alabama was sentenced to five years in prison for violating U.S. sanctions on Iran. Hunt, also known as Abdolrahman Hantoosh, Rahman Hantoosh, and Rahman Natooshas, conspired with two companies in Tehran to export U.S.-made industrial equipment for Iran’s oil, gas and…
On Feb. 26, 2025, the United States sanctioned six companies based in Hong Kong and the People’s Republic of China involved in procuring components for Iran’s drone and ballistic missile programs. “Iran continues to try to find new ways to procure the key components it needs to bolster its UAV…
On Feb. 24, 2025, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned 22 people and 13 vessels for involvement in smuggling oil and petroleum products on behalf of Iran. They were based in Iran, China, Hong Kong, India, and the United Arab Emirates. Tehran “continues to rely on a shadowy network of vessels,…
On Feb. 6, 2025, the United States sanctioned an international network that smuggled millions of barrels of Iranian oil worth hundreds of millions of dollars. China, which reportedly purchases some 90 percent of Iran’s crude oil exports, was the destination for the cargo. The Treasury Department…
On Feb. 4, 2025, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced the names of two senior Iranian intelligence officers who were involved in the abduction of Robert. A “Bob” Levinson in 2007. The retired FBI agent was reportedly on a rogue Central Intelligence Agency mission when he disappeared…
On Feb. 4, 2025, President Donald Trump signed a memorandum to impose “maximum pressure” on Iran’s government, deny Tehran all paths to a nuclear weapon, and counter the regime’s malign influence in the Middle East. It is “in the national interest to impose maximum pressure on the Iranian regime to…
On Dec. 31, 2024, the United States sanctioned the Cognitive Design Production Center, an organization under Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, for attempting to inflame sociopolitical tensions and influence the outcome of the 2024 U.S. election. Concurrently, the Treasury Department also…
On Dec. 20, 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice charged Mohammad Reza Nouri, an Iranian national and officer in the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), for plotting the murder of American Stephen Troell, who was working at an English language institute in Iraq in 2022. The United…