United States sanctions against Iran
The move was announced by Stuart Levey, the undersecretary for treasury, who accused the major state-owned bank in Iran of transferring funds for certain groups, including Hezbollah.
[22][23] For individuals and small businesses, these banking restrictions have created a large opportunity for the hawala market, which allows Iranians to transfer money to and from foreign countries using an underground unregulated exchange system.
[24] In June 2010, in the case United States v. Banki, the use of the hawala method of currency transfer led to a criminal conviction against a U.S. citizen of Iranian origin.
[25] On June 24, 2010, the United States Senate and House of Representatives passed the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010 (CISADA), signed into law by President Obama on July 1, 2010.
[31] French President François Hollande said: "When the (European) Commission goes after Google or digital giants which do not pay the taxes they should in Europe, America takes offence.
[35][36][37][38] Huawei's deputy chair and CFO Meng Wanzhou, daughter of the company's founder Ren Zhengfei, was arrested in Vancouver, Canada on December 1, 2018, under an extradition request by United States authorities for allegedly putting HSBC bank at risk of violating U.S. sanctions on Iran.
[58][59] In April 2019, the United States threatened to sanction countries continuing to buy oil from Iran after an initial six-month waiver announced in November expired.
[60] In June 2019, Trump imposed sanctions on Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei, his office and those closely affiliated with his access to key financial resources.
[65] On 19 May 2020, the United States sanctions targeted Shanghai Saint Logistics Limited, a PRC-based company that provides general sales agent services for Mahan Air.
[68] The individuals and companies that had been added to United States sanctions list in 2018:[69] On 8 May 2019, according to article 36 of the JCPOA agreement, Iran was allowed to reply in case of non-compliance by other signatories.
President Rouhani announced that Iran was acting in reply to "the European countries' failure" and held on to stockpiles of excess uranium and heavy water used in nuclear reactors.
On 21 April 2019, a few days before United States sanctions were due to take effect, Iran Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei appointed Hossein Salami as the new commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
[62] In May 2020 the United States charged Iranian-Iraqi Amir Dianat and his Iranian business partner with money-laundering on behalf of the Quds Force and with violating sanctions.
[85] The Joe Biden administration levied the sanctions on Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Crops officials on 1 June 2023, who were convicted for plotting assassination abroad, involving against John Bolton and Mike Pompeo.
[88] In October 2019, the US imposed sanctions on some of the Iranian construction sector which is owned by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which it regards as a foreign terrorist organization.
The US State Department also identified four “strategic materials” being used in connection with military, nuclear, or ballistic missile programs, making trade in them subject to sanctions.
The new sanctions included one of his sons, Mojtaba Khamenei, the newly appointed head of Iran's judiciary, Ebrahim Raisi, the supreme leader's chief of staff, Mohammad Mohammadi Golpayegani, and others.
[95][96][97] In June 2023, the United States sanctioned a procurement network involving seven individuals and six entities in Iran and the People's Republic of China (PRC) for supporting the activities of the Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics, Parchin Chemical Industries, and P.B.
The U.S. Treasury highlighted the ongoing repression and called out the Iranian regime’s systematic human rights violations, including abuses against peaceful protesters and political activists.
[103] In early 2025, the Shandong port, owned by the Chinese government, announced that it would not accept goods from companies and countries blacklisted by the Office of Foreign Assets Control, including Iran.
[105] In February 2025, the Trump administration imposed new sanctions targeting an international network accused of selling millions of barrels of Iranian oil to China, with proceeds funding Iran's military and terrorist activities.
The sanctions specifically targeted Sepehr Energy, described as a front company for Iran's Armed Forces General Staff, and included measures against associated oil tankers and individuals involved in these transactions.
The primary objective of these sanctions is to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons ("that threaten the civilized world") and to curb its support for regional terrorist proxy groups.
[106][107] According to an Iranian journalist, the effects of sanctions in Iran include expensive basic goods and an aging and increasingly unsafe aircraft fleet.
Professor Hamid Dabashi, of Columbia University, said in August 2009 that this was likely to bring "catastrophic humanitarian consequences", while enriching and strengthening the "security and military apparatus" of "the Pasdaran and the Basij," and having absolutely no support from "any major or even minor opposition leader" in Iran.
[123] On 18 January 2012 Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned that sanctions are aimed at strangling the economy of Iran and would create much discontent toward Western nations, and potentially provoke a negative recourse.
"[127] On 5 May 2019, the White House announced the United States has stationed an aircraft carrier strike group and Air Force bombers to the Middle East for “troubling and escalatory indications and warnings” connected to Iran.
According to a 2019 AlJazeera report, some tech companies like as GitHub, Google and Apple and Microsoft began limiting users linked to Iran, and several other countries under U.S. sanctions, access to its services.
Sanctions have also prevented Iran from procuring active ingredients necessary to manufacture locally produced medicine to treat asthma, cancer, and multiple sclerosis.
[140] In December 2010 it was reported that the United States Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control had approved nearly 10,000 exceptions to U.S. sanctions rules worldwide over the preceding decade by issuing special licenses for American companies.
