⁍ The United States on Monday imposed fresh Iran-related sanctions targeting the Islamic Republic’s oil sector.

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⁍ The Treasury Department said it was slapping sanctions on key actors in Iran’s oil sector for supporting the Quds Force.

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⁍ The move freezes any U.S. assets of those blacklisted and generally bars Americans from dealing with them.

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– The Trump administration is slapping new sanctions on Iran’s Ministry of Petroleum, as well as the National Iranian Oil Company and National Iranian Tanker Company, in an effort to rein in Tehran’s oil exports. “The regime in Iran uses the petroleum sector to fund the destabilizing activities of the IRGC-QF,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement, referring to the elite foreign paramilitary and espionage arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, per Reuters. The sanctions generally bar Americans from dealing with the entities or their assets. Iran’s oil exports have fallen sharply since Trump re-imposed sanctions on the country in May, but they rose sharply in September, according to three assessments based on tanker tracking. “The few remaining buyers of Iranian crude oil should know that they are helping to fund Iran’s malign activity across the Middle East, including its support for terrorism,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement. The Treasury also imposed sanctions on Mahmoud Madanipour and United Arab Emirates-based Mobin International Limited, accusing them of entering into an agreement with Venezuelan state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela to ship gasoline obtained from Venezuela to the government of Nicolas Maduro, per Reuters. The US Justice Department said the cargo was destined for Venezuela, whose oil industry is also under US sanctions, but the companies denied in court filings that Venezuela was the destination.