The US Treasury Department has designated 12 individuals and entities for their roles facilitating the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ sale and shipment of Iranian oil to China, in the latest wave of sanctions under Washington’s Operation Economic Fury.
The action, carried out by the Office of Foreign Assets Control under counterterrorism authority, targets a web of front companies spanning Hong Kong, Dubai, Sharjah and Oman that the IRGC has used to launder oil revenues and obscure its role in international crude sales.
“As Iran’s military desperately tries to regroup, Economic Fury will continue to deprive the regime of funding for its weapons programs, terrorist proxies, and nuclear ambitions,” said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. “Treasury will continue to cut the Iranian regime off from the financial networks it uses to carry out terrorist acts and to destabilise the global economy.”
Among those designated are three senior officials of the IRGC’s Shahid Purja’fari Oil Headquarters: chief Ahmad Mohammadi Zadeh, finance chief Samad Fathi Salami, and commercial chief Mohammadreza Ashrafi Ghehi. The three coordinated payments through cover company Golden Globe – previously sanctioned in July 2025 – and worked to resolve debts owed by sanctioned Chinese energy group Haokun.
On the corporate side, Hong Kong-based Blue Ocean Limited and Hong Kong Sanmu Limited are designated for arranging IRGC oil shipments worth tens of millions of dollars in 2025, including cargoes carried on the sanctioned tankers Gagan, Cangjie and Hasna. Dubai-based Ocean Allianz Shipping and Sharjah-based Atic Energy FZE facilitated shipments on five additional shadow fleet vessels. Oman-based Zeus Logistics Group, and Hong Kong entities Jiandi HK Limited and Max Honor International Trade arranged further IRGC oil purchases, with cargoes moved on the sanctioned tankers Scaler, Skipper and XD Leo. Dubai-based Universal Fortune Trading, also used as a front by the National Iranian Oil Company, rounds out the list.
Since February 2025, OFAC has sanctioned more than 1,000 Iran-related persons, vessels and aircraft, disrupted billions in projected oil revenue and frozen nearly half a billion dollars in regime-linked cryptocurrency. Treasury warned it stands ready to impose secondary sanctions on foreign financial institutions – including those connected to Chinese independent teapot refineries – that continue to facilitate Iranian oil commerce.
