The United States has blacklisted Iran’s Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad, the latest in the series of sanctions on the country’s petroleum industry aimed at choking off Tehran’s revenue, NewsBase reported on March 13.   

Department US State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce in a statement accused Paknejad of helping “the Iranian regime and its military steal the nation’s wealth” by transporting crude oil to China, Tehran’s one and only customer.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent added: "The Iranian regime continues to use the proceeds from the nation's vast oil resources to advance its narrow, alarming self-interests at the expense of the Iranian people. Treasury will fight and disrupt any attempts by the regime to fund its destabilising activities and further its dangerous agenda," Reuters reported. 

The sanctions imposed by the US Treasury Department also targeted three entities involved in delivering Iranian barrels to China and designated three tankers as blocked property for having a part in the trade.

The designations are the latest move by the administration of President Donald Trump who restored his so-called “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran in January to push its oil sales to “zero” and force the Islamic Republic to negotiate a deal with the US over its nuclear programme.

“Today's action advances President Trump's policy of maximum pressure on the Iranian regime,” US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.

The designation of Paknejad came more than two weeks after the Treasury slapped sanctions on his deputy Hamid Bovard, who also serves as the CEO of the National Iranian Oil Co. (NIOC).It also came a day after UAE presidential advisor Anwar Gargash delivered a letter by Trump to Iran during a visit to Tehran.

Earlier in the day, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian rejected US sanctions as futile, he said, “Enemies cannot create problems for us by imposing sanctions on [Iran’s] oil,” Pezeshkian said.

Iran has already slammed US sanctions on its oil exports as “illegal” and “unjustified” and has vowed to ship crude as much as it can. Iran has relied on a clandestine network of over 500 vessels, with a combined capacity of 450mn barrels, to bypass sanctions – a fleet widely referred to as the “dark fleet” or “ghost fleet.”

The US has so far blacklisted 45% of the fleet, according to TankersTrackers, a maritime monitoring service that tracks shipments and oil storage.

The Treasury Department also designated owners or operators of vessels that have delivered Iranian oil to China or lifted it from storage there, including companies in India and China.

Designated vessels include the Hong Kong-flagged Peace Hill and its owner Hong Kong Heshun Transportation Trading Limited, the Iran-flagged Polaris 1, the Seychelles-registered Fallon Shipping Company Ltd, and the Liberia-registered Itaugua Services Inc.

The Department of State sanctioned three Indonesian shipping companies and designated three vessels as blocked property for facilitating the transport of Iranian petroleum products. PT Bintang Samudra Utama, Shipload Maritime PTE Ltd, and PT Gianira Adhinusa Senatama knowingly engaged in significant transactions for the transport of petroleum from Iran, according to the sanctions notice.

The vessels identified as blocked property include the Celebes (IMO 8710730), Malili (IMO 9179921), and Marina Vision (IMO 8106109), which were used to manoeuvre the vessels Star Forest and Sobar into position for ship-to-ship transfers of Iranian crude oil near Nipa, Indonesia on December 25, 2024.

The sanctions were imposed pursuant to Executive Orders 13846 and 13902, which target transactions involving petroleum from Iran and the country's petroleum and petrochemical sectors.

This represents the third round of sanctions targeting Iranian oil sales since President Trump issued National Security Presidential Memorandum 2 on February 4, ordering a campaign of maximum pressure on the Iranian regime, including reducing Iran's oil exports to zero, especially exports to China.