Washington imposes financial penalties on an Iraqi businessman who it says helped smuggle Iranian oil.
Among those targeted by the sanctions announced on Thursday are Iraqi businessman Salim Ahmed Said and his United Arab Emirates-based company, which the US accused of smuggling Iranian oil by blending it with Iraqi oil.
“Iran’s behavior has left it decimated. While it has had every opportunity to choose peace, its leaders have chosen extremism,” US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.
“Treasury will continue to target Tehran’s revenue sources and intensify economic pressure to disrupt the regime’s access to the financial resources that fuel its destabilizing activities.”
After the ceasefire was reached on June 24, US President Donald Trump said China could buy Iranian oil, suggesting the US might lift its sanctions on Tehran’s energy exports.
But the promise was short-lived. Trump wrote in a social media post last week that he “immediately dropped all work on sanction relief” in response to statements by Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei claiming victory over Israel.
The US president also said he stopped Israel from assassinating Khamenei, saving him from a “VERY UGLY AND IGNOMINIOUS DEATH”.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz had said Israel sought to kill Khamenei but there was “no operational opportunity” for the assassination.
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