Iran Sanctions

US lawmakers and expert witnesses called for a more aggressive US strategy to confront Iran's nuclear ambitions, proxy networks, and financial enablers at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on Tuesday.

The United States on Tuesday imposed sanctions on six firms and two individuals in Iran, China and the United Arab Emirates accused of supplying drone components to Iran’s Quds Aviation Industries and its military partners.

US President Donald Trump has threatened to bomb Iran and impose secondary tariffs if Tehran refuses to reach an agreement with Washington on abandoning its nuclear ambitions and making other concessions.

Iran’s commercial ties with East Asia have withered under the sustained pressure of US-led sanctions, pushing once-robust relations with countries like Japan and South Korea into near dormancy, according to a former senior Iranian diplomat.

Iran’s oil minister, Mohsen Paknejad, has denied that new sanctions and enforcement efforts by the Trump administration against Iran’s energy exports have had a significant impact.

The US Treasury Department on Friday sanctioned five individuals and three companies accused of helping fund Hezbollah through a Lebanon-based sanctions evasion network allegedly backed by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards’ elite Quds Force.

A senior adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader urges the government to cede more economic control to the people, arguing that this is necessary to address sanctions, soaring inflation, and a rapidly depreciating currency.

International sanctions are costing each Iranian citizen an estimated 530 million rials or about $500 annually in the non-oil trade sector alone, a former central bank governor has said.

The US Justice Department has filed a civil forfeiture complaint seeking to seize $47 million in proceeds from the sale of nearly one million barrels of Iranian oil, alleging the funds benefited the IRGC and its Qods Force, both designated as terrorist organizations.

The United States on Wednesday moved to further impede Iranian access to American technology by adding two Iran-linked entities to its export blacklist, citing their alleged role in procuring parts for Tehran’s drone and missile programs.

Iran is forging documents to pass off fuel oil and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) bound for Asian markets as emanating from other countries to skirt US-led sanctions, an analysis by Iran International shows.

The United States on Tuesday sanctioned three senior Iranian intelligence operatives accused of playing a role in the disappearance and presumed death of retired FBI agent Robert Levinson, who vanished in Iran over 17 years ago.

Iran warned on Tuesday that it would respond strongly to any use of the so-called snapback mechanism by Western countries, a tool within the 2015 nuclear deal that could reimpose international sanctions on Tehran lifted by the deal.

Iran’s currency hit a record low of 1,039,000 rials to the US dollar on Tuesday, as the absence of nuclear talks with the US continues to fuel economic uncertainty.

Sanctioning a Chinese refinery for buying Iranian oil is the first real sign of President Donald Trump’s “maximum pressure” on Tehran, the Wall Street Journal’s Editorial Board said on Sunday.

Iranian oil tankers stopped by US forces in the Persian Gulf were using forged Iraqi documents, according to Iraqi Oil Minister Hayan Abdel-Ghani.

Iran Air, the country's flag carrier, has reported significant losses and a severe impact on drug imports following the European Union and UK's flight ban, with the airline's CEO calling for international legal action to restore services.

China on Friday blasted the United States for sanctioning Chinese entities that Washington says are involved in Iranian oil trade, asserting Beijing's readiness to defend its economic interests.