WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced sanctions Thursday against Iran’s new Persian Gulf Strait Authority and warned shipping companies against paying tolls to cross the Strait of Hormuz.
“The [Treasury] continues our Economic Fury campaign against the Iranian regime. Their troops are not getting paid, the police are not reporting for work, and Kharg Island is shut down,” Bessent wrote on X.
“The Iranian economy and currency are in free fall. Iran’s Persian Gulf Strait Authority (PGSA) is a joke, and today Treasury has sanctioned it.”
The PGSA was created earlier this month to allow Iran to extract payments from oil tankers and cargo ships stuck in the strategic waterway since the US and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28.
“We have warned any corporate or state entities against paying tolls or hiding them as aid payments,” Bessent added.
“Forming a Wall of Steel, the U.S. Naval Blockade has ensured a record low amount of Iranian crude on the water. We will also be shutting down both Iranian airlines’ access to landing spots, refueling, and ticket sales. Only a satisfactory outcome in negotiations will end the downward spiral.”
The sanctions effectively warn companies that they could be cut off from the global financial system if they pay Iranian tolls.
The deterrent comes one day after President Trump threatened to bomb Oman if it entered a pact with Iran to jointly administer transit fees.
“It’s international waters, and Oman will behave just like everybody else, or we’ll have to blow them up. They understand that,” Trump said at a cabinet meeting.
US and Iranian negotiators are close to reaching a memorandum of understanding that would reopen the strait — with no tolls — while setting aside nuclear negotiations for further resolution.
The closure of the strait has caused international energy prices to spike and inflation to again increase.
Trump has made clear that his primary objective in the war is permanently closing Iran’s path to a nuclear weapon and destroying or obtaining roughly 1,000 pounds of highly enriched uranium.
