Treasury targets Iran’s LPG trade, updates Brazil terrorism sanctions

WASHINGTON, June 5, 2026 — The US Treasury Department on Friday went after what it described as two of Tehran’s key economic escape routes: a covert LPG export chain and a shadow banking network used to move foreign currency for sanctioned Iranian banks. Treasury said the operation relied on front companies in the United Arab Emirates and China, foreign bank accounts and vessels from Iran’s shadow fleet to sell Iranian fuel while masking its origin.

The thrust of the action was less about one shipment than the system behind it. Treasury said the network moved hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of Iranian-origin LPG, at times labeling it as Omani product for buyers in South and East Asia. That points to a broader US effort to raise the cost not only for Tehran, but also for the traders, shipping intermediaries and service providers that keep Iranian energy exports moving.

Treasury paired the shipping action with a strike on Iran’s informal financial channels, targeting Mehrdad Geramian Nik and Partners Company and its leadership. The department said the exchange house moved hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign currency for sanctioned Iranian banks and held tens of millions more on their behalf as of early 2026, underscoring how central exchange houses remain to Iran’s offshore financial machinery.

The message from Washington was that sanctions evasion now means more than ship-to-ship transfers and flag-hopping. Treasury is framing it as an integrated commercial model, where cargo disguise, offshore entities, alternative citizenships and broker networks all help Iran generate, move and repatriate revenue. The designations were issued under Executive Order 13902, which covers Iran’s petroleum and financial sectors.

A concrete example in the release shows why US officials see the network as commercially significant: Treasury said one vessel, LPG SEVAN, carried 750,000 barrels of LPG to Bangladesh between August and November 2025, while another UAE-linked trader delivered 22,000 metric tons of LPG to Bangladesh in October 2025 worth about $10.5 million.