United States targets Iranian shadow banking and maritime networks
Date of publication: May 22, 2026
The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has announced new sanctions measures pursuant to E.O. 13902 and pursuant to furtherance of the President's National Security Presidential Memorandum 2 (NSPM-2) targeting Iranian shadow banking and maritime networks that generate and move revenue for Iran's regime, including from oil and petrochemical sales.
The new measures designate and block
:- One Iran-based foreign currency exchange house, Ebrahimi and Associates Partnership Company (Amin Exchange), for operating in the financial sector of the Iranian economy
- Four individuals associated with Amin Exchange (Yousef Ebrahimi, Samad Nemati, Ali Hazrati Chakherlo, and Mahmoud Ebrahimi) for ownership, control, or acting for or on behalf of the exchange house
- Eight foreign front companies in China, Hong Kong, Turkiye and the United Arab Emirates linked to Amin Exchange's cross‑border money laundering and payments activities in support of Iranian petroleum, petrochemical, metals, manufacturing, and automobile industries
- Nineteen shipping companies that own or operate tankers involved in transporting Iranian oil, petroleum products, petrochemicals, methanol, LPG, naphtha, and high sulfur fuel oil
- Nineteen associated non‑Iranian flagged vessels added to OFAC's Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (SDN List) as blocked property of their designated owners or managers
Trade measures:
All property and interests in property of the designated persons and vessels that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons are blocked and must be reported to OFAC. Any entity owned, directly or indirectly, 50 percent or more by one or more blocked persons is likewise blocked, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from all transactions involving such property or interests unless authorized or exempt. Non-U.S. persons risk sanctions exposure, including possible secondary sanctions for certain support to Iran's illicit oil and petrochemical trade, and are prohibited from causing U.S. persons to violate U.S. sanctions or engaging in conduct that evades them.
Since launching the Economic Fury campaign, Treasury reports it has disrupted billions in projected Iranian oil revenue, contributed to the freezing of nearly half a billion dollars in regime‑linked cryptocurrency, and taken successive actions against Iran's shadow banking mechanisms, including exchange houses, rahbar companies, digital asset exchanges, and related facilitators, as well as maritime networks moving Iranian oil and petrochemicals.
Conclusion
These measures further constrain Iran's ability to generate and move hard currency through foreign exchange networks and a global shadow fleet of tankers, thereby limiting revenue available to support weapons development, terrorist proxies, and regime elites.
Companies should carefully screen all customers, counterparties, vessels, and maritime service providers against the updated OFAC SDN List, assess any direct or indirect exposure to the designated entities and vessels, and enhance controls around Iran‑related payments, shipping, and commodity transactions.
These changes have been updated in ONESOURCE Global Trade Content. For more information on how ONESOURCE Global Trade solutions can assist you in managing restricted party screening, please contact your Account Manager or Customer Success Manager.