U.S. increases pressure on Iran with sanctions on oil minister

The U.S. Treasury Department announced Thursday the imposition of sanctions against Iranian Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad amid an escalation of President Donald Trump's "maximum pressure" campaign on the government in Tehran.

"The Iranian regime continues to use the proceeds from the nation’s vast oil resources to advance its narrow, alarming self-interests at the expense of the Iranian people," U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.

Washington is also sanctioning three entities that trade Iranian oil in China and blocking the use of three vessels that aided in crude oil transaction.

"[Iranian] oil exports are enabled by a network of shipping facilitators in multiple jurisdictions who, through obfuscation and deception, load and transport Iranian oil for sale to buyers in Asia," State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said in a statement. "Today, the United States is acting under President Trump’s policy of maximum pressure on the Iranian regime," she added.

Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has called for a new deal on Tehran's nuclear program as he has been reinstating his policy of maximum pressure that he pursued during his first term.

Trump days ago sent a letter to Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei threatening military action if he refused to sit down and negotiate a new nuclear deal.

The news comes 48 hours after the Trump administration ended a waiver allowing the Iraqi government to buy Iranian electricity.