With its economy in freefall and inflation in the triple digits, the regime is desperate for cash. The United States will not allow Iran to hold global commerce hostage or use international shipping to finance the IRGC’s terrorism, aggression, and repression.
Today, Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control designated two firms integral to an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-backed extortion scheme that forces commercial vessels to purchase mandatory maritime “insurance” to transit the Strait of Hormuz. Although this coverage purports to protect vessels from risks such as seizures, these risks are overwhelmingly created by Iran itself.