The Trump administration announced today the imposition of sanctions on 115 individuals, entities, and vessels involved in the Shmukin Shimani shipping network, which facilitates the smuggling of Iranian oil to circumvent international sanctions. This action marks the broadest round of sanctions against Iran by the United States since 2018. According to the U.S. Treasury Department, the Shmukin Shimani network, led by Muhammad Hussein Shimani, the son of Ali Shimani, a senior adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader, transfers oil and other products from Iran and Russia to global customers. The Treasury Department claims these smuggling operations generate billions of dollars annually. The sanctions aim to disrupt the financial flows supporting Iran's oil trade. Muhammad Hussein Shimani's father, Ali Shimani, is noted as having been rescued from an assassination attempt during the 12-day war with Iran. In a separate development, the Tehran Court sentenced a former Iran Interior Minister to a six-month prison sentence for writing on the X Post network, where he criticized Yahya Sinwar and suggested he might be an Israeli informant.
