The United States imposed sanctions against a business network that blended Iranian oil with Iraqi oil to shield it from restrictions.

The sanctions are directed at a network of companies run by Iraqi businessman Salim Ahmed Saeed, “that have been selling Iranian oil falsely declared as Iraqi oil since at least 2020.” The Treasury Department says the oil is sold this way to help Iran evade international sanctions on its oil exports. 

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“As [President Donald Trump] has made clear, Iran’s behavior has left it decimated. While it has had every opportunity to choose peace, its leaders have chosen extremism,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement. “Treasury will continue to target Tehran’s revenue sources and intensify economic pressure to disrupt the regime’s access to the financial resources that fuel its destabilizing activities.”

The Treasury said that Saeed “bribed many members of key Iraqi government bodies, including parliament,” to allow him to sell the Iranian oil as if it came from Iraq. The department said it is also sanctioning several vessels of Iran’s “shadow fleet” that help the country avoid sanctions on its oil to generate more revenue.

“Iran relies on non-sanctioned vessels to conduct ship-to-ship transfers and receive Iranian oil from sanctioned vessels before shipping the Iranian-origin cargo to buyers in Asia,” the department said of the process.

Iran is rich in oil, and taking away its capacity to sell it would limit the country’s revenue. The U.S. has used sanctions relief as a bargaining chip in the past to stop Iran from further developing its nuclear program.

State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said in a statement that the sanctions will act “to stem the flow of revenue the Iranian regime uses to support terrorism abroad and oppress its own people.”

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The Treasury Department also said it sanctioned several top officials and an entity associated with the Hezbollah-controlled financial institution Al Qard Al Hasan. The action aims to target Hezbollah’s sanctions evasion schemes.

“Through their roles at AQAH, these officials sought to obfuscate Hizballah’s interest in seemingly legitimate transactions at Lebanese financial institutions, exposing these banks to significant [Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism] risk while allowing Hizballah to funnel money for its own benefit,” Deputy Treasury Secretary Michael Faulkender said in a statement. “As Hizballah seeks money to rebuild its operations, Treasury remains strongly committed to dismantling the group’s financial infrastructure and limiting its ability to reconstitute itself.”