In a dramatic escalation of its pressure campaign against Tehran, the United States has unveiled a sweeping package of new sanctions targeting an extensive Iranian oil shipping network, in what officials have described as the most “massive” set of Iran-related sanctions since 2018. The measures, announced on July 30, target more than 100 individuals, entities, and vessels allegedly involved in a complex scheme to export sanctioned Iranian oil and funnel billions of dollars in revenue back to the regime.

The move marks a renewed push by the administration of President Donald Trump to reinvigorate his “maximum pressure” strategy aimed at forcing Iran to abandon its uranium enrichment program and roll back its regional influence. The timing of the sanctions, coming just days after reported joint US-Israeli airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan, further signals a hardening US posture toward Tehran.

At the heart of the newly sanctioned network is Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani, a prominent oil trader and the son of Ali Shamkhani, a longtime senior adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and former secretary of the Supreme National Security Council.

According to the US Treasury Department, Shamkhani used his father’s political clout and connections to build a vast maritime network of tankers, container ships, front companies, and foreign intermediaries that have enabled Iran to covertly export oil, particularly to China, in defiance of US sanctions.

The scheme, officials said, has laundered tens of billions of dollars, relying on a dense web of shell companies and middlemen to obscure the origin of the crude oil and to move funds through jurisdictions with weak........

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