US Tightens Economic Controls on Iran and Warns Shipping About Hormuz Tolls
In what it is calling “Economic Fury,” the U.S. Department of the Treasury is expanding a number of efforts to tighten the economic controls on Iran while adding warnings to the shipping industry. It rolled out additional sanctions on Friday, May 1, while also citing the potential sanctions risk from paying directly or indirectly tolls for passage through the Strait of Hormuz.
“Treasury is moving aggressively, through Economic Fury, to sever the Iranian military’s financial lifelines,” said Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent. “We will relentlessly target the regime’s ability to generate, move, and repatriate funds, and pursue anyone enabling Tehran’s attempts to evade sanctions.”
As part of its efforts, Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) issued a statement saying it is aware of Iranian demands for “toll” payments to receive safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz. It warns, however, about the “sanctions risks of making these payments, or soliciting guarantees from the Iranian regime for safe passage.”
OFAC warns that the risks exist regardless of the payment method. It notes the prohibitions of engaging in transactions with the government of Iran as well as Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. It reports that foreign institutions also run the risk of secondary sanctions on participating financial institutions by making these transactions.
Further, it warns that Iran has been seeking payment not only in currency or digital assets, but also in offsets, informal swaps, or other in-kind payments such as charitable donations to groups such as the Iranian Red Crescent Society, Bonyard Mostazafan, or Iranian embassy accounts. Treasury this week also moved to interrupt electronic banking and other electronic financial transactions that it called shadow banking facilitators.
Vessels calling at Iranian ports, it also notes, face significant sanctions. At the same time, it warns all companies to question any vessel making the transit through the Strait of Hormuz to make sure they are not making these payments.
The warning to shipping came as Treasury also designated three Iranian foreign currency exchange houses. It asserts that these houses are facilitating billions of dollars in foreign currency transactions. It notes Iran primarily settles oil sales in Chinese yuan and then uses these houses to convert the oil revenues.
Furthermore, it says that Economic Fury is part of Treasury’s “ongoing efforts to disrupt the Iranian regime’s financial lifelines that sustain its war effort.”
The Department of State also announced new sanctions against another Chinese petroleum terminal operator, which it links to imports of millions of barrels of sanctioned Iranian crude oil. As part of the sanctions, State also designated two vessel management companies, Thriving Times, which it says is based in the UK, and Onboard Ship Management, which it says is based in Hong Kong.
that matters most
Get the latest maritime news delivered to your inbox daily.
Also included was one additional product tanker, New Fusion (75,000 dwt), which is registered in Panama. The U.S. reports the vessel has been transporting Iranian petroleum products in 2024 and 2025.
Treasury and State’s actions were part of the Trump administration's broad effort to use economic pressure to bring Iran to the negotiating table. CENTCOM reports it is up to 45 commercial vessels that have been directed to turn around or return to port to ensure compliance with the blockade of Iranian ports and shipping.