By Patricia Zengerle
WASHINGTON, Feb 25 (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury Department on Wednesday imposed sanctions on more than 30 individuals, entities and "shadow fleet" vessels it said enabled Iran's illicit petroleum sales, ballistic missiles and weapons production.
Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control also targeted multiple networks that enable Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics to secure the precursor materials and machinery required for ballistic missile and other weapons production, the department said.
Republican President Donald Trump has launched a campaign to clamp down on Iran's economy. He also sent U.S. military forces to the Middle East and warned of a possible attack if Tehran does not reach a deal to resolve the longstanding dispute over its nuclear program.
Trump briefly laid out his case for a possible attack in his State of the Union address to Congress on Tuesday night.
Iran says its nuclear research is for civilian energy production. A senior Iranian official told Reuters on Sunday that Tehran and Washington remain sharply divided over which sanctions should be lifted and when.
Iran did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the new sanctions.
The sanctions targeted 12 shadow fleet vessels and their owners or operators that have collectively transported hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of Iranian petroleum and petrochemical products, the Treasury said.
The shadow fleet refers to ships that carry oil that is under sanctions. They are typically old, their ownership opaque and they sail without the top-tier insurance cover needed to meet international standards for major oil companies and many ports.
"Iran exploits financial systems to sell illicit oil, launder the proceeds, procure components for its nuclear and conventional weapons programs, and support its terrorist proxies," Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent said in a statement.
(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Additional reporting by Bhargav Acharya in Toronto; Editing by Daphne Psaledakis, Chizu Nomiyama and Lisa Shumaker)
