After four years of kid-glove treatment by the Biden administration, the mullahs in Iran started to get awfully comfortable. They bankrolled anti-American terrorist groups like Hezbollah and the Houthis, they continued their nuclear weapons program, and they constantly threatened their neighbors with oblivion.

As they still do.

Donald Trump wants to take a tougher approach, and his administration has engaged in talks, but they haven’t gone very far. Now it’s time for action, this time in the form of sanctions. 

Hit 'em where it hurts:

Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control is taking over a dozen actions against actors that support Iranian oil exports. We are committed to successfully implementing @POTUS' broad and aggressive maximum pressure campaign on Iran.

— Treasury Department (@USTreasury) May 8, 2025

The move also sends a message to China, which the administration accuses of enabling the despotic Islamic Republic:

The US Treasury Department sanctioned an oil refinery in China — along with port terminal operators, vessels, companies and individuals — it accuses of facilitating the Iranian crude trade, which it said funds Tehran’s military and violates existing US sanctions.

Hebei Xinhai Chemical Group, Ltd., a so-called teapot refinery in Hebei Province, was the main target of Thursday’s action. Treasury said in a statement that the refinery has received multiple shipments of Iranian oil worth hundreds of millions of dollars from vessels operating as part of a shadow fleet.

More: Some Secret - Satellite Overheads Reveal 'Secret' Iranian Nuke Facility

Update: Iran-US Nuke Talks Swing Into a New, More Serious Phase; Envoys Comment on Progress

But it wasn’t just the refinery they sanctioned: they also penalized three firms for operating a terminal which allegedly helps transport Iranian oil, as well as six vessels and two Indian-national ship captains.

It’s part of Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign:

The increased attention on these independent refiners in Shandong, which are the biggest buyers of Iranian crude, is part of a “maximum pressure” campaign against Tehran ordered by President Donald Trump and carried out by the Treasury, which implements the bulk of US sanctions.

The US “remains resolved to intensify pressure on all elements of Iran’s oil supply chain to prevent the regime from generating revenue to further its destabilizing agenda,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.

🚨 President Trump signs a presidential memorandum to reinstate a maximum pressure campaign against Iran's nuclear problem and their support of terrorist proxy groups in the Middle East.

"It's very simple: Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon." pic.twitter.com/XdsemJ9lq7

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 4, 2025

Trump has the right idea: bankrupt the mullahs. It was a tactic he worked successfully in his first term, and there’s no reason not to do it again. Take away their main source of money, and suddenly they can’t finance every two-bit terrorist regime around the world. Make them hungry, and there’s a good chance their negotiating tactics could change.

As part of @POTUS’ broad and aggressive maximum pressure campaign on Iran, today @USTreasury is targeting another teapot refinery that imported Iranian oil. The United States remains resolved to intensify pressure on all elements of Iran's oil supply chain to prevent the regime…

— Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (@SecScottBessent) May 8, 2025

The United States remains resolved to intensify pressure on all elements of Iran's oil supply chain to prevent the regime from generating revenue to further its destabilizing agenda.

Trump promised to bring "maximum pressure" on the despotic Iranian regime, and now he's backing it up.

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