US imposes sanctions on Iranian oil network amid nuclear talks in Oman

The United States announced new sanctions targeting a covert Iranian oil shipping network, the State Department said on February 6 shortly after indirect talks between US and Iranian officials concluded in Oman. 

The measures impose penalties on 15 entities, 14 vessels, and two individuals linked to Tehran’s so-called “shadow fleet,” which Washington says helps Iran evade international sanctions, Caliber.Az reports per the State Department. 

According to the State Department, income from the network is used to finance terrorist groups and destabilise the region. 

“Instead of investing in the welfare of its own people and crumbling infrastructure, the Iranian regime continues to fund destabilizing activities around the world and step up its repression inside Iran,” the Department said in a statement.

Separately, State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Tommy Piggot noted that the United States will continue to act to “hold both the Iranian regime and its partners accountable.” 

“The President is committed to driving down the Iranian regime’s illicit oil and petrochemical exports under the Administration’s maximum pressure campaign,” he added. 

The sanctions come as USand Iranian officials met in Oman on February 6 for talks aimed at easing tensions over Tehran’s nuclear programme. Mediated by Omani officials, the negotiations mark the first direct engagement between the two countries since Israel attacked Iran last June.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi described the talks as off to a “good start” and said they were set to continue. Other Iranian officials attended, alongside US special envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, in Oman’s capital, Muscat.

US officials have maintained that sanctions and other measures will continue as long as Iran violates restrictions on energy exports. 

“While these negotiations are taking place, I would remind the Iranian regime that the president has many options at his disposal, aside from diplomacy, as the commander in chief of the most powerful military in the history of the world,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at a briefing on February 5.

The sanctions are part of the US “maximum pressure” campaign, first launched during Trump’s first term, aimed at curbing Iran’s shipping network and oil exports.

By Sabina Mammadli