US sanctions Indian entities, individuals involved in Iranian petroleum sales

The Trump administration has sanctioned entities and individuals from India involved in sales of Iran's petroleum and petroleum products, saying the funds from this trade support Tehran's regional terrorist proxies and procure weapons systems that are “a direct threat” to the US.

The Departments of State and Treasury sanctioned shipping networks responsible for funding the Iranian regime's “malign activities” through illicit oil sales, as well as an airline and its affiliates that arm and supply Iran-backed terrorist groups.

Among those added to the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control Specially Designated Nationals List are Indian nationals Zair Husain Iqbal Husain Sayed, Zulfikar Hussain Rizvi Sayed, Maharashtra-based RN Ship Management Private Limited and Pune-based TR6 Petro India LLP.

The State Department is designating 17 entities, individuals, and vessels in several countries, including, but not limited to India, Panama, and the Seychelles, involved in Iran's petroleum and petroleum products sales, the administration said.

Concurrently, the Department of the Treasury is designating 41 entities, individuals, vessels, and aircraft, intensifying its efforts against Iran's petroleum and petrochemical exports and disrupting financial streams and commercial operatives that support Iran's malign activities.

The funds generated by this oil trade are used to support Iran's regional terrorist proxies and procure weapons systems that pose a direct threat to US forces and American allies, the State Department said on Thursday.

The administration said TR6 Petro is an India-based petroleum products trader, which between October 2024 and June 2025, imported over USD 8 million worth of Iranian-origin bitumen from multiple companies.

It is being designated for knowingly engaging in a significant transaction for the purchase, acquisition, sale, transport, or marketing of petroleum or petroleum products from Iran, the State Department said.

The Iranian regime continues to fuel conflict in the Middle East to fund its destabilising activities, the State Department said. This behaviour enables Iran to fund its nuclear escalations, support terrorist groups, and disrupt the flow of trade and freedom of navigation in waterways that are crucial to global prosperity and economic growth.

The United States will continue to act against the network of maritime service providers, dark fleet operators, and petroleum products traders involved in the transport of Iranian crude oil and petroleum products, it said.

The State Department said the US will continue to act in support of National Security Presidential Memorandum 2 (NSPM-2), which directs the imposition of maximum pressure on the Iranian regime to deny it access to resources needed to sustain its destabilising activities.

“The United States remains committed to disrupting the illicit funding streams that finance all aspects of Iran's malign activities. As long as Iran devotes revenue to funding attacks against the United States and our allies, supporting terrorism around the world, and pursuing other destabilising actions, we will use all the tools at our disposal to hold the regime accountable,” it said.

The action is being taken pursuant to counter-terrorism provisions, which target Iran's petroleum and petrochemical sector.