U.S. targets Iran’s banking system, companies with new sanctions

The Trump administration on Friday announced its eighth round of Iran-related sanctions as diplomats race to secure a deal on the Strait of Hormuz. 

The new sanctions target Iran’s banking system and companies across multiple countries that the Treasury Department says launder hundreds of millions of dollars. 

“Every facilitator that keeps the regime afloat is putting a target on its own back,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement. “Treasury will continue to expose these networks and cut them off from the U.S. financial system.”

The department designated Shahr Bank and two Dubai-based exchange houses, Titan Exchange and Alps International, that it says helped the bank retrieve oil revenue for major Iranian exporters, including the National Iranian Oil Company and Naftiran Intertrade Co. 

Titan Exchange allegedly held tens of millions of dollars on Shahr Bank’s behalf, and the Treasury Department says the exchange is linked to a financier who was previously sanctioned for aiding a separate shipping and sanctions-evasion network.

Several Iranian nationals were also designated, including Shahr Bank employee Saeed Ghasempour, who reportedly coordinated currency conversions with Russia’s VTB Bank, and staff members of Iran-based Farab Soroush Afagh Qeshm who managed invoices and payments for the scheme. A cluster of shell companies in Hong Kong, Singapore and Dubai — used to funnel payments through intermediary accounts — was also designated. 

Separately, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned former Fly Baghdad CEO Basheer Abdulkadhim Alwan al-Shabbani for allegedly helping the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force move fighters, weapons, and money to militia groups in the region. Earlier this week, however, OFAC removed Fly Baghdad from its sanctions list. 

In a separate statement, State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said the measures are intended to “cut the financial lifelines that sustain Iran’s ruling elite.”

“Through these networks, Tehran accessed oil revenue and evaded sanctions designed to curb its destabilizing activities, laundering funds using front companies,” Pigott said.

The sanctions are part of the Trump administration’s effort to apply economic tools to pressure Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and eventually end the war that the administration originally said would last four to six weeks. 

The war, now in its sixth month, has proven unpopular. A recent CBS News poll found 63% of Americans think the conflict is not going well, 67% say to end it now and 69% say they are not getting a clear understanding of what’s happening on a day-to-day basis. 

Asked on Thursday about the state of negotiations, President Trump said, “we’re doing fine” and a deal could be announced “soon.”