US warns Iran against expulsion of UN nuclear inspectors, sanctions ‘shadow fleet’

WASHINGTON — The United States warns against an Iranian misstep after a senior aide to the country’s supreme leader threatened to expel UN nuclear inspectors ahead of weekend talks with the United States.

“The threat of that kind of action, of course, is inconsistent with Iran’s claims of a peaceful nuclear program,” State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce tells reporters. “Also, expelling IAEA inspectors from Iran would be an escalation and a miscalculation on Iran’s part.”

Washington also issues new sanctions targeting Iran’s “shadow fleet,” citing one individual and India- and United Arab Emirates-based groups whose vessels have transported Iranian oil.

The Treasury Department cites UAE-based Indian national Jugwinder Singh Brar, who owns shipping companies with a fleet of nearly 30 vessels.

“Brar’s vessels engage in high-risk ship-to-ship (STS) transfers of Iranian petroleum in waters off Iraq, Iran, the UAE and the Gulf of Oman,” the department says in a statement.

The sanctions also target two UAE- and two India-based entities that own and operate Brar’s vessels that have transported Iranian oil on behalf of the National Iranian Oil Company and the Iranian military, Treasury says in a statement.

“The Iranian regime relies on its network of unscrupulous shippers and brokers like Brar and his companies to enable its oil sales and finance its destabilizing activities,” US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says.

“The United States remains focused on disrupting all elements of Iran’s oil exports, particularly those who seek to profit from this trade.”