The U.S. Treasury imposed a new round of sanctions on Friday against an international network accused of smuggling Iranian liquefied petroleum gas and laundering revenue through shadow banking channels. The Office of Foreign Assets Control designated traders, shipping companies, vessels, and financial intermediaries it said had moved hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Iranian LPG disguised as exports from Oman and sold to buyers across South and East Asia.
Treasury identified Afghan national Sarbaz Abdul Zada and Turkish national Mohammad Shakol Mihandoust as the principal operators. Officials said the pair used UAE based trading firms, including Butani Trading LLC, Dundlod Trading FZE, and ADH Energy FZE, to arrange shipments of Iranian cargo falsely marketed as Omani product. One shipment cited by Treasury involved roughly 750,000 barrels of LPG carried to Bangladesh aboard the vessel Sevan between August and November 2025, with a separate delivery of 22,000 metric tons reaching the country in October.
OFAC also designated six LPG tankers and their owners and operators: MD 23, Glendale, Amir Gas, Gas Lagoon, Mile, and Gaz GMS. Treasury said the vessels had collectively transported millions of barrels of Iranian LPG over several years. Shanghai Qianye Energy, a China based company Treasury said was controlled by Mihandoust, was also added to the list, along with the Iranian exchange house Mehrdad Geramian Nik and Partners Company, accused of moving foreign currency on behalf of Bank Tejarat, Bank Mellat, and Bank Pasargad.
The designations form part of the administration's Economic Fury campaign, a maximum pressure push aimed at restricting Iran's ability to generate and move revenue from oil, gas, petrochemicals, and financial activity. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Iran's economy was floundering and its military decimated, and that Washington would continue to sever Tehran's shadow fleet and its access to global trade.
For the shipping industry, the action underlines how quickly maritime enforcement has become the cutting edge of U.S. Iran policy. Since April, U.S. forces have boarded multiple sanctioned tankers and expanded interdictions beyond the Persian Gulf into the wider Indian Ocean. Owners, charterers, and bunkering counterparties working anywhere near the Gulf are now operating under a regime where a single tainted cargo or front company can pull a vessel and its commercial partners onto an OFAC list overnight.