US targets Iran’s ‘shadow fleet’ over crackdown on protesters

The United States imposes sanctions on nine vessels of what is known as the shadow fleet and eight related firms, the US Treasury Department says in a statement, as Washington seeks to escalate pressure on Iran over the recent killing of protesters.

The Treasury says the vessels and their respective owners or management firms, which include entities based in India, Oman and the United Arab Emirates, have collectively transported hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Iranian oil and petroleum products to foreign markets.

“Today’s sanctions target a critical component of how Iran generates the funds used to repress its own people. As previously outlined, Treasury will continue to track the tens of millions of dollars that the regime has stolen and is desperately attempting to wire to banks outside of Iran,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says in the statement.

Rights groups say thousands of people, including bystanders, have been killed during the unrest in Iran, which they describe as the biggest crackdown since Shi’ite Muslim clerics took power in the 1979 revolution.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to intervene against Iran over the recent killings of protesters there, but protests dwindled last week and Trump’s rhetoric regarding Iran has eased.

The shadow fleet refers to ships that carry oil that is under sanctions. They are typically old, their ownership opaque and they sail without the top-tier insurance cover needed to meet international standards for oil majors and many ports.