The United States on Wednesday slapped sanctions on a shipping empire controlled by the son of a top political advisor to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
The Treasury Department said sanctions were being imposed on companies and vessels operated by Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani, the son of Ali Shamkhani, who has been subject to US sanctions since 2020.The Shamkhani family’s shipping empire highlights how the Iranian regime elites leverage their positions to accrue massive wealth and fund the regime’s dangerous behavior,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.
The Treasury Department and State Department said more than 115 individuals, corporate entities and vessels were being sanctioned including companies based in Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Singapore, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and other countries.
“The over 115 sanctions issued today are the largest to-date since the Trump Administration implemented our campaign of maximum pressure on Iran,” Bessent said.
The sanctions are being imposed over a month after the United States attacked Iran’s nuclear program, hitting a uranium enrichment facility at Fordow, south of Tehran, as well as nuclear sites in Isfahan and Natanz.
