US sanctions Iranian Petroleum Minister Paknejad

The US Treasury Department on Thursday announced that it sanctioned the Iranian petroleum minister.

"Today, the Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is designating Iran's Minister of Petroleum, Mohsen Paknejad, who oversees the export of tens of billions of dollars' worth of Iranian oil and has allocated billions of dollars' worth of oil to Iran's armed forces for export," it said in a statement.

OFAC is also designating several entities in multiple jurisdictions, including China and India, for ownership or operation of vessels that delivered Iranian oil to China, or lifted Iranian oil from storage in Dalian, China, it said.

"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," said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

Bessent vowed to fight attempts by Iran to fund its "destabilizing activities and further its dangerous agenda."

State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said the entities provide services to ghost fleet vessels engaged in ship-to-ship transfers outside port limits in Southeast Asia, facilitating Iran's efforts to obscure its oil trade.

"Today's action advances President Trump's policy of maximum pressure on the Iranian regime, which is designed to end Iran's nuclear threat, curtail its ballistic missile program, and stop it from supporting or rebuilding its terrorist proxy groups, including by driving Iran's oil exports to zero — especially oil exports to China," she added.

The Iranian government has yet to respond to the new sanctions.