News Desk
10 October 2025, 11:22 AM IST
Over 50 entities and people, including two Indian nationals, have been sanctioned by the US for facilitating Iran’s energy exports.
Representational image
Washington: The United States has imposed sanctions on more than 50 entities, people, including two Indian nationals, and vessels for allegedly facilitating Iranian energy exports. The move targets “key elements” of Tehran’s “energy export machine”, according to an official statement.
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced the sanctions on Thursday.
“These actors have collectively enabled the export of billions of dollars’ worth of petroleum and petroleum products, providing critical revenue to the Iranian regime and its support for terrorist groups that threaten the United States,” the department said in a press release.
This is part of the Treasury Department’s broader efforts to restrict Iran’s petroleum and petrochemical exports. Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent stated, “The Treasury Department is degrading Iran’s cash flow by dismantling key elements of Iran’s energy export machine.”
Who are the two Indians?
Among those sanctioned are two Indian nationals: Varun Pula, owner of Bertha Shipping Inc., a Marshall Islands-based company operating the Comoros-flagged vessel PAMIR, which has transported nearly four million barrels of Iranian LPG to China since July 2024, and Soniya Shrestha, owner of Vega Star Ship Management Private Limited, which operates the Comoros-flagged vessel NEPTA, transporting Iranian-origin LPG to Pakistan since January 2025.
The statement further noted that all “property and interests in property of the designated or blocked persons” within the US or controlled by US persons are frozen and must be reported to OFAC. Entities owned 50 percent or more by these designated parties, directly or indirectly, are also subject to blocking.
PTI
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