ISLAMABAD: The United States on Thursday announced sweeping sanctions targeting shipping and aviation networks tied to Iran’s petroleum trade, explicitly naming entities operating “in several countries, including, but not limited to India, Panama, and the Seychelles,” according to a State Department statement.

The State Department said it designated 17 entities, individuals and vessels, while the Treasury Department simultaneously listed 41 entities, individuals, vessels and aircraft for allegedly helping channel funds to Iran’s “malign activities through illicit oil sales.”

The statement warned that revenue from these networks is used to support “Iran’s regional terrorist proxies and procure weapons systems that pose a direct threat to US forces and our allies.”

“We will use all the tools at our disposal to hold the regime accountable,” the release said, stressing that actions are being taken under National Security Presidential Memorandum 2, which directs “maximum pressure on the Iranian regime.”

Iran says West pursuing ‘escalation’ after new IAEA resolution

Reacting a day later, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accused the US and three European powers of triggering a fresh confrontation after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) passed a resolution demanding “full and prompt” cooperation from Tehran, including access to sensitive nuclear sites.

“Given that the E3 and the US seek escalation, they know full well that the official termination of the Cairo Agreement is the direct outcome of their provocations,” Araghchi posted on X.

He added that the agreement, reached in September to guide cooperation with the IAEA, was now “null and void” following the new resolution.

Araghchi said Western actions had “killed” the framework much like “the diplomacy which was assaulted by Israel and the US in June,” referencing the mid-June conflict in which Israel launched an “unprecedented bombing campaign” and the United States “briefly joined with strikes on key Iranian nuclear facilities.”

He argued earlier that any access for inspectors to sites hit during the war depended on reaching a “new understanding,” saying the latest IAEA move was “disrupting the process of interactions and cooperation.”

With additional inputs from AFP

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India-linked entities flagged as US tightens curbs on Iran oil trade