The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has intensified pressure on Iran’s illicit oil transportation infrastructure by sanctioning more than two dozen individuals, companies, and vessels operating within the network of Iranian oil shipping magnate Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani, the son of now-deceased senior Iranian security official Ali Shamkhani.
“Treasury is moving aggressively with Economic Fury by targeting regime elites like the Shamkhani family that attempt to profit at the expense of the Iranian people,” said Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent. “
Shamkhani heads a multi-billion dollar Iranian and Russian petroleum sales empire that enriches a family connected to the highest echelons of the Iranian regime at the expense of the Iranian people. The U.S. action taken on April 15, builds on OFAC’s July 2025 designation of the Shamkhani network—which remains its largest single action to date since the Trump Administration revived the maximum pressure campaign against Iran.
In a joint investigation with Homeland Security Investigations, OFAC is also designating Iranian national and Lebanese Hizballah-financier Seyed Naiemaei Badroddin Moosavi and three companies linked to a complex money laundering scheme involving the sale of Iranian oil in exchange for Venezuelan gold under the former Venezuelan dictatorship, all ultimately on behalf of Hizballah and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps–Qods Force.
The U.S. action marks the latest round of sanctions targeting Iranian oil sales and proxies such as Hizballah since the President issued National Security Presidential Memorandum 2 instituting a campaign of maximum economic pressure on Iran and its regional proxies. Since the issuance of NSPM-2, OFAC has sanctioned over 1,000 people, vessels, and aircraft as part of this campaign.
The Shamkhani network evades sanctions through a group of seemingly legitimate administrative, consulting, and shipping firms that manage all aspects of the network’s fleet. These firms and their employees maintain a robust public presence to provide a veneer of legitimacy while allowing the network to support the Iranian regime and enrich the Shamkhani family.
As part of a joint investigation with Homeland Security, OFAC is targeting Iranian illicit oil and gold smuggling that serve as part of the regime’s financing streams for terrorist activities, including those of Hizballah. Iranian national and Hizballah-financier Seyed Naiemaei Badroddin Moosavi (Moosavi), who is also linked to the Iranian regime has facilitated terror-financing activity in conjunction with others, including leaders within former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s regime. Moosavi’s connections to the former Venezuelan regime include direct contact with the former dictator Maduro, and he had assumed some of U.S.-designated Alec Saab’s financial facilitation efforts after Saab’s previous arrest in 2020.
As Secretary Bessent noted, “Under President Trump’s leadership, Treasury will continue to cut off Iran’s illicit smuggling and terror proxy networks. Financial institutions should be on notice that Treasury will leverage all tools and authorities, including secondary sanctions, against those that continue to support Tehran’s terrorist activities.”