The U.S. sanctioned an individual and businesses it says are involved in an oil-smuggling network supporting Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods ForceRevolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force.
Treasury department placed financial restrictions on a senior broker, Mahmood Rashid Amur Al Habsi, which worked with officials from the Revolutionary Guard and facilitated shipments of Iranian oil, including to customers in East Asia, according to a department statement.
The sanctions included businesses associated with al Habsi, including his Oman-based company Nimr International Llc, which Treasury said facilitates the shipment of Iranian oil. Also sanctioned was Oman-based Orbit Petrochemicals Trading Llc that facilitated oil deals to obscure the Revolutionary Guard's involvement, Treasury said.
Senior officials in the Revolutionary Guard use proceeds from Iran's oil exports to help fund the group's activities, Treasury Department said.
The move comes as efforts to revive the multinational nuclear deal on Iran have faltered and amid heightened tensions with the inauguration of Iran's new hard-line leader, Ebrahim Raisi.
There also has been a spate of incidents on the Israeli coast this month which included rocket attacks by Hezbollah militants and the attack on an oil tanker off the coast of Oman. Iran has denied responsibility for the strike on the HV Mercer Street, which killed a British resident and a Romanian citizen and added to the jitters in oil markets.