Sanctions & Enforcement — 2026-07-30

US Treasury Sanctions Iran IRGC-Backed Maritime Extortion Scheme Forcing Commercial Vessels to Buy Hormuz Insurance

BLUFOFAC will very likely designate additional Hormuz-linked targets within 60 days, but HormuzSafe's built-in cryptocurrency settlement ensures Tehran collects coerced payments faster than Washington can block them.

The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control on Wednesday designated the Persian Gulf Marine Insurance Company and HormuzSafe Marine Services Authority, accusing them of forcing commercial vessels to buy mandatory Strait of Hormuz "insurance" against risks Iran itself creates 12. Treasury said HormuzSafe, built by Iran's Ministry of Economy, accepts Bitcoin and other digital assets to evade sanctions, while PGMIC issues policies approved by the previously designated, IRGC-backed Persian Gulf Strait Authority 1. Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent said the regime is "desperate for cash" with triple-digit inflation 1. The action also designated eight shadow-fleet tankers tied to Hong Kong- and China-based owners for transporting Iranian crude oil and petroleum products, bringing to over 100 the vessels OFAC has sanctioned this year 12.

Analysis
Treasury very likely will add further Iran-linked shadow-fleet tankers, insurers, or facilitators tied to the Hormuz scheme within the next 60 days, continuing a campaign that has already pushed 2026 vessel designations past 100. The underlying coercion persists regardless: shipowners transiting the Strait still face Iranian demands for parallel "insurance" payments enforced by IRGC-linked authorities that no US blocking order can reach. Moderate confidence in this trajectory reflects the pace and layered structure of enforcement so far, which has moved in successive tranches rather than isolated actions. HormuzSafe's built-in Bitcoin settlement shows Tehran is already engineering around the next round of blocking measures.
4 sources
  1. Treasury Disrupts Iranian Regime's Strait of Hormuz Extortion Network - U.S. Department of the Treasury
  2. US OFAC targets Iran Strait of Hormuz insurance scheme and shadow fleet - Insight EU Monitoring
  3. US Sanctions Iran's 'Extortion Network' Over Hormuz Tolls - Bloomberg
  4. New U.S. Sanctions Target Iran's Emerging Strait of Hormuz Maritime Services Network - gCaptain

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