The Trump administration on Tuesday announced new sanctions against two Iranian petroleum magnates who use their business to funnel revenue to the Iranian regime — one of whom was caught last year attempting to export cargo to China from off the coast of Houston.
Petroleum magnate, Seyed Asadoollah Emamjomeh, his son Meisam Emamjomeh, and his corporate network — now sanctioned by the Trump administration — are responsible for shipping hundreds of millions of dollars worth of liquified petroleum gas (LPG) to foreign markets, according to the Treasury Department. LPG is a large source of revenue for the Iranian regime, which funds regional terrorist proxy groups including Hezbollah, the Houthis, and Hamas.
The sanctions come as the Trump administration attempts to negotiate a nuclear deal with the Iranian regime while also keeping up its maximum pressure campaign. The sanctions were announced by the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and are in line with Executive Order 13902, which targets those operating in certain sectors of the Iranian economy.
“Emamjomeh and his network sought to export thousands of shipments of LPG—including from the United States—to evade U.S. sanctions and generate revenue for Iran,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement. “The United States remains committed to holding accountable those who seek to provide the Iranian regime with the funding it needs to further its destabilizing activities in the region and around the world.”
Under the sanctions, “all property and interests in property of the designated persons described above that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons are blocked and must be reported to OFAC,” according to the Treasury Department. All transactions by American citizens or within the United States that involve any property or interests in property of designees are prohibited. Violations may result in civil and criminal penalties, according to OFAC.
OFAC added that its power comes from its ability to both add and remove people to a sanction list, stating that “the ultimate goal of sanctions is not to punish, but to bring about a positive change in behavior.”
Emamjomeh, who is based in Iran, and Meisam, a UAE-based British-Iranian, have owned and operated an LPG sales, transportation, and delivery network through multiple companies in Iran and the UAE for over a decade, according to the Treasury Department.
TINOS I, a large gas carrier vessel in the network, attempted to load LPG off the coast of Houston, Texas, to sell to China in June 2024, according to Lloyd’s List, which took credit for alerting American authorities about the ship when it was en route to Houston.
According to the maritime news outlet, TINOS I, built in 2024, was on its maiden voyage before sitting at anchor following Lloyd’s list asking authorities for comment. Pearl Petrochemical told Lloyd’s List that it received a license from OFAC but did not specify if it was permitted to lift cargoes in the United States.
Until October 2024, Emamjomeh owned UAE-based Pearl Petrochemical FZE, the beneficial owner of TINOS I, before ownership passed to Meisam.
“Emamjomeh also owns or controls nine additional LPG companies in Iran, including, reportedly, one company with a monopoly on the National Iranian Gas Company’s LPG deliveries,” the Treasury Department reported. “Meisam acts as director and chief executive officer (CEO) of United Kingdom-based Worldwide LPG Limited, while also serving on the board of directors of many of Emamjomeh’s Iran-based companies.”
One of Emamjomeh’s UAE-based companies, Caspian Petrochemical FZE, is “part of a network that has exported thousands of shipments of LPG from Iran to Pakistan and [has] conducted tens of millions of dollars in business on behalf of Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industry Commercial Co. (PGPICC).”
PGPICC has been designated by OFAC since July 2019 for being owned or controlled by Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company (PGPIC), which was also designated on the same day for providing financial support to Khatam al-Anbiya, the engineering conglomerate of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Emamjomeh’s designation is the consequence of his operating in the petroleum sector of the Iranian economy. The designation will extend to several of the companies he owns or controls, including Caspian Petrochemical FZE, Parsa Fidar Paydar Engineering and Technology Company, Nilgon Parsa Caspian Shipping Company, Arsa Gas Company, Pasar Gas Company, Petro Parsa Caspian Iranian Company, Pasar Gas Novin Trading Company, Parsa Salakh Qeshm Industrial Complex, Parsa Trabar Caspian International Transportation Company, and Parsa Trabar Persia International Transportation Company.
Meisam and his Pearl Petrochemical FZE and Worldwide LPG Limited are also being designated, according to the Treasury Department’s announcement, on similar grounds. The TINOS I will be identified “as property in which Pearl Petrochemical FZE has an interest.”
