U.S. sanctions Iran’s security leaders and clandestine oil shadow-banking network

The U.S. Treasury has announced a fresh slate of sanctions targeting senior Iranian political and security figures, a prison facility accused of mistreating detainees, and a network of firms and individuals the Treasury says laundered petroleum and petrochemical revenues through a clandestine shadow-banking system.

The designations, issued by the Office of Foreign Assets Control on Jan. 15–16, name Ali Larijani, identified as secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, among several officials the United States describes as “architects” of the regime’s response to nationwide antigovernment protests. U.S. statements assert Larijani was one of the first officials to call for violence against demonstrators. OFAC also singled out Fardis Prison; the State Department said that “women have endured cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment” there.

In a statement accompanying the action Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said, “The United States stands firmly behind the Iranian people in their call for freedom and justice,” and that “At the direction of President Trump, the Treasury Department is sanctioning key Iranian leaders involved in the brutal crackdown against the Iranian people. Treasury will use every tool to target those behind the regime’s tyrannical oppression of human rights.” The department framed the moves as a dual effort to punish human-rights abuses and to disrupt financial channels the regime uses to conceal and move energy revenues.

OFAC also designated 18 firms and individuals it says participated in laundering proceeds from Iranian oil and petrochemical sales into foreign markets. Treasury officials characterized the group as part of a clandestine shadow-banking network tied to or operated by sanctioned Iranian financial institutions, notably Bank Melli and Shahr Bank. Among those named are three senior officials from Tejarat Hermes Energy Qeshm, which the Treasury described as “a commercial front company” based in the United Arab Emirates that helped funnel energy revenue through the network.

U.S. officials contend these funds do not benefit ordinary Iranians but are diverted to finance domestic repression and to support groups the United States designates as terrorist organizations abroad. The sanctions are intended to sever those channels and increase the economic cost for entities that facilitate Tehran’s ability to export energy outside regular banking oversight.

The announcements come amid heightened U.S.-Iran tensions as President Donald Trump weighs a range of responses to Tehran’s conduct, including potential military options, according to U.S. officials. The measures also follow one set of casualty and arrest estimates attributed to the Human Rights Activists News Agency, a U.S.-based advocacy group, which reported that in the preceding three weeks more than 18,000 people had been arrested and at least 2,515 people had died in connection with the protests.

Legal mechanics for the designations rest with OFAC, which listed the named individuals and entities as subject to U.S. sanctions measures. The move signals an expanded U.S. strategy that blends human-rights accountability with financial pressure, seeking to choke off the revenue streams Washington says fund Tehran’s security apparatus and regional activities while signaling continued U.S. support for Iranian protesters. The steps are likely to complicate Iran’s efforts to disguise energy revenue flows and to heighten diplomatic friction at a moment of intense regional volatility.