Trump Admin Sanctions Iranian Shipping Magnate Offloading Illicit Oil and Gas for Tehran

US ‘committed to holding accountable those who seek to provide the Iranian regime with the funding it needs,’ Bessent says

The Trump administration slapped sanctions on an Iranian national and his corporate network for laundering hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of illicit petroleum products “to evade U.S. sanctions and generate revenue for Iran,” the Treasury Department announced on Tuesday.

Iranian shipping magnate Seyed Asadollah Emamjomeh has worked with Tehran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) to illegally transport the hardline regime’s heavily sanctioned crude oil and liquefied petroleum gas, or LPG, to foreign markets across the globe, according to the department. Emamjomeh once attempted to transport LPG from Houston to China, though the effort failed. The ship he used, TINOS 1, is still in anchorage off Houston and was hit with sanctions under the latest order.

Emamjomeh’s shipping empire, the Treasury Department says, helped generate revenue for Iran’s “nuclear and advanced conventional weapons programs” as well as its “regional proxy groups and partners such as Hezbollah, the Houthis, and Hamas.” Emamjomeh was sanctioned alongside his son, Meisam Emamjomeh, as well as a constellation of international companies controlled by the duo.

“Emamjomeh and his network sought to export thousands of shipments of LPG—including from the United States—to evade U.S. sanctions and generate revenue for Iran,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement. “The United States remains committed to holding accountable those who seek to provide the Iranian regime with the funding it needs to further its destabilizing activities in the region and around the world.”

The sanctions are the latest salvo in an escalating series of measures meant to cripple Tehran’s international oil trade and bankrupt the regime. They come as the Trump administration engages in negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program—negotiations that have sparked concerns among supporters of the “maximum pressure” sanctions campaign over mixed messages regarding Tehran’s ability to enrich uranium under a prospective deal.

While most of the Trump administration’s recent sanctions have targeted Tehran’s crude oil business, Emamjomeh primarily moves LPG—a lesser known but still hugely profitable sector.

For more than a decade, the Treasury Department says, Emamjomeh and his son have “owned and operated an LPG sales, transportation, and delivery network using multiple Iran and UAE-based companies.” One of these companies, Caspian Petrochemical FZE, is part of an international network “that has exported thousands of shipments of LPG from Iran to Pakistan” and conducted “tens of millions of dollars in business on behalf of Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industry Commercial Co. (PGPICC),” an IRGC affiliate that was sanctioned in 2019.

The elder Emamjomeh owned the UAE-based Pearl Petrochemical FZE until October 2024, when he passed ownership down to his son. That company, which was also included in the latest sanctions package, drew headlines in June 2024 when its TINOS I ship attempted to load LPG products from the United States and sell them in China.

Emamjomeh’s son, Meisam, currently serves as the director and chief executive officer of the U.K.-based Worldwide LP Limited, which maintains ties with his father’s Iran-based companies, according to the Treasury Department.

Nine additional Emamjomeh-controlled companies, including one with a monopoly on the National Iranian Gas Company’s LPG deliveries, will now face sanctions: Parsa Fidar Paydar Engineering and Technology Company, Nilgon Parsa Caspian Shipping Company, Arsa Gas Company, Pasar Gas Company, Petro Parsa Caspian Iranian Company, Pasar Gas Novin Trading Company, Parsa Salakh Qeshm Industrial Complex, Parsa Trabar Caspian International Transportation Company, and Parsa Trabar Persia International Transportation Company.

Under the sanctions, all American property and interest in property belonging to Emamjomeh and his son will be blocked, including their TINOS I ship. The action essentially freezes all U.S.-based assets from moving unless Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control gives the green light, which is unlikely in the near term.

“This revenue funds Iran’s malign behavior, particularly the regime’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs and its support for terrorist proxies,” the State Department said in a statement. “Iranian companies continually adapt their networks to evade sanctions and sell to foreign customers. The United States is committed to sanctioning Iranian firms that fund the regime’s destabilizing conduct.”