U.S. announces new sanctions “countering Iran’s exploitation of the Strait of Hormuz”

U.S. announces new sanctions “countering Iran’s exploitation of the Strait of Hormuz”The U.S. government announced further sanctions against Iranian entities on Wednesday as part of efforts to cut off Iran’s energy income and counter the Islamic Republic’s efforts to exert control over commercial shipping and charge fees for use of the Strait of Hormuz. In a statement released by the State Department, spokesperson Tommy Pigott said the new sanctions imposed by the U.S. Treasury targeted two Iranian insurance firms, the Persian Gulf Marine Insurance Company and Hormuz Safe Marine Services Authority, which he said were backed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). He said the entities run schemes that extort international shipping by creating risk, “including the threat of vessel seizures — and then charge commercial vessels for coverage against dangers created by the regime itself, generating revenue that sustains IRGC operations and Iran’s broader campaign of regional destabilization.” The U.S. also designated eight companies on Wednesday that it said operated vessels “that have transported illicit Iranian crude oil and petrochemical products to China and the United Arab Emirates” as part of Iran’s “shadow fleet” of tankers. Pigott said the sanctions would support the U.S. Navy’s “enforcement of a blockade on Iranian ports and coastline and add to a sustained campaign that has now sanctioned more than 100 vessels this year.”