US Imposes New Iran Sanctions As Officials Say Hormuz Deal Is Near

The US Treasury targeted currency exchange houses, shell companies and financial facilitators that Washington said helped Iran move hundreds of millions of dollars through the international financial system.

The State Department said the measures targeted networks Iran used to access oil revenue, evade sanctions and move funds through front companies.

It added that the new sanctions were intended “to cut the financial lifelines that sustain Iran’s ruling elite.”

The statement said Washington would continue targeting banks, exchange houses and other facilitators it says Iran uses to move funds and evade sanctions.

Despite the new sanctions, US officials insist that progress has been made in talks over the Strait of Hormuz.

There has been progress between Oman and Iran over the strait and a deal is expected soon, Reuters reported Friday, citing a US official.

The official said the US would lift its blockade of Iranian ports once an agreement was announced to restore commercial shipping through the strait without impediments.

Bessent says ceasefire could come soon

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent separately said a 30- to 60-day ceasefire agreement with Iran could come “shortly, maybe even today, tomorrow,” adding that a deal could reopen the Strait of Hormuz and bring energy prices down.

Bessent also said the strait would “never” return to the way it was, saying Iran had used or tried to use it as a choke point.

“What we are going to see over the next two years, the strait is going to become irrelevant. It is going to become just another body of water,” Bessent said.

He added that “more than 50 or 70%” of the energy currently moving through the strait would instead go through underground pipelines.

Earlier Oman proposal

The latest progress follows weeks of talks between Iran and Oman over a new arrangement for commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran had earlier rejected an Omani proposal for a 50-50 arrangement dividing the inbound and outbound routes between the two sides, saying it did not sufficiently address Tehran’s security concerns.

Tehran instead proposed that one shipping lane run entirely through Iranian territorial waters and part of the other also pass through Iranian waters, allowing Iran to maintain oversight over traffic in both directions.

US actions would remain performance-based and tied to Iran’s implementation of its commitments, the US official told Reuters.