The United States has imposed sanctions on the Persian Gulf Strait Authority (PGSA), an Iranian entity seeking to “monetize its campaign of state-sponsored terror by extorting vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz.”
According to the Treasury Department, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) uses PGSA to spearhead “an Iranian-controlled scheme that flagrantly violates international law and U.S. sanctions.” The department warned, “Anyone cooperating with the so-called strait authority may be providing support to and receiving services from the IRGC, which ultimately benefits from this attempted extortion, and may therefore be exposed to sanctions risk.”
“The Iranian military’s latest attempt to extort global maritime trade is proof that Economic Fury has left the regime desperate for cash,” Bessent said in a statement. “Through Economic Fury, the United States has imposed a financial stranglehold on the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism. Treasury has deprived the Iranian regime of revenue for their weapons programs, terrorist proxies, and nuclear ambitions. Under President Trump’s leadership, we will remain relentless in our pursuit to constrict the network of vessels, intermediaries, and buyers through which Iran exports both its oil and malevolence.”
The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said earlier this month that it is “aware of Iranian threats to shipping and demands for ‘toll’
payments to receive safe passage through the international Strait of Hormuz.” The alert served as a warning for “U.S. and non-U.S. persons about the sanctions risks of making these payments to, or soliciting guarantees from, the Iranian regime for safe passage.”
