ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – The United States expanded its sanctions targeting Iranian petroleum shipping magnate Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani, the Treasury said on Tuesday, warning that he remains a key force in Iran’s oil trade. 

Hossein is the son of Ali Shamkhani, who was a top advisor to Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and was killed in US-Israeli airstrikes on Iran in late February. Ali Shamkhani led the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) for a decade until 2023.

His son, Hossein, was previously sanctioned by the US in July 2025 over his extensive influence in the shipping sector, derived from his father’s position within Iran’s system, often referred to as the “Shamkhani empire.”

The latest move adds 50 more individuals, entities, and vessels to previous sanctions, bringing the total to more than 200 assets within the so-called empire, the Treasury said.

Mohammad Hossein was also targeted by EU sanctions over alleged involvement in trade linked to Russian oil.

As a consequence of the sanctions, assets in the US owned 51 percent or more by those targeted are frozen, while US citizens are prohibited from dealing with them.

In April, the Treasury said Shamkhani’s network uses a group of apparently legitimate administrative, consulting, and shipping firms to manage its fleet and evade sanctions, maintaining a public presence that provides a veneer of legitimacy while supporting Iran’s system and enriching the Shamkhani family.

“The Iranian regime survives on deception, and the Shamkhani network is one of its most profitable engines,” said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. 

It added that the expanded sanctions are part of “ongoing efforts to ramp up economic pressure on the Iranian regime after it resumed destabilizing attacks in the Strait of Hormuz.”

Since the US-Israel war started in late February, Iran has shut the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway responsible for the transport of roughly 20 percent of the world’s oil, sharply driving up oil prices. 

Fighting resumed between Washington and Tehran earlier this week after Iran attacked a Cyprus-flagged tanker transiting the strait. 

Free navigation in the vital waterway has been a key US demand for the ceasefire, prompting Washington to resume attacks on the country, while Iran has also continued retaliatory strikes on US assets across the Region.