On July 10, the Trump Administration announced a new round of sanctions on Iran, designed, it said, to target Iran’s “shadow banking” network involved in the illicit trade of Iranian oil. “Illicit” as the U.S. defines it, means involved in transactions that the U.S. claims goes to funding the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Quds Force.
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said the sanctions will target 22 entities based in Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates, and Türkiye, “for their roles in facilitating the sale of Iranian oil that benefits” the IRGC and Quds Force. The front companies, OFAC says, are designed to help Iran circumvent U.S. sanctions by using offshore accounts to facilitate payments from refineries purchasing the sanctioned oil, according to the Treasury Department.
