US imposes more sanctions on Iranian oil trade after Trump calls to drive exports 'to zero'

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. on Monday imposed sanctions on dozens of people and oil tankers across China, the United Arab Emirates, India and other jurisdictions for allegedly helping to finance Iran and its support for militant groups that launch attacks against the U.S. and its allies.

The U.S. Treasury and the U.S. State departments sanctioned more than 30 people and ships, including the heads of Iran’s National Iranian Oil Co., and the Iranian Oil Terminals Co., for their role in brokering the sale and transportation of Iranian oil. The sanctioned ships move crude oil valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars, according to the Treasury.

This is the second round of sanctions imposed on Iranian oil sales since President Donald Trumpissued the National Security Presidential Memorandum 2, which calls for the U.S. to “drive Iran’s export of oil to zero.” It also states that Iran “can never be allowed to acquire or develop nuclear weapons.”

At the time of the memo's signing in February, Trump said from the Oval Office that “hopefully we’re not going to have to use it very much.”

“We will see whether or not we can arrange or work out a deal with Iran," the president said.

“We don’t want to be tough on Iran. We don’t want to be tough on anybody,” Trump added. “But they just can’t have a nuclear bomb.”

Trump added that he’s given his advisers instructions to obliterate Iran if it assassinates him.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that the U.S. "will use all our available tools to target all aspects of Iran’s oil supply chain, and anyone who deals in Iranian oil exposes themselves to significant sanctions risk.”

During his confirmation hearing, Bessent criticized the Biden administration’s sanctions policies and called for the U.S. to have a more “muscular” sanctions regime and to be more aggressive in targeting Iran and Russian entities and oil.

An October 2024 U.S. Energy Information Administration report estimates that Iran brought in $253 billion in oil revenues during both Joe Biden and Trump's presidencies, between 2018 to 2024.

State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce in a statement said that “as long as Iran devotes its energy revenues to financing attacks on our allies, supporting terrorism around the world, or pursuing other destabilizing actions, we will use all the tools at our disposal to hold the regime accountable.”