The US State Department on Monday sanctioned Portease Partners LLP, an India-based customs broker, for facilitating multiple shipments of Iranian petrochemical products into India, according to a report by The Times of India‘s Chidanand Rajghatta. Its designated partners Indrismiya Ashrafmiya Sheikh and Harish Ramachandra Rangi, both Indian nationals, were also sanctioned.
Three other India-based companies— Sadashiva Overseas Ltd, PP Softtech Pvt Ltd and Prakrutees Infra Impex India Pvt Ltd— were also targeted.
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Washington said Sadashiva imported about $69 million worth of Iranian-origin petroleum products between February 2024 and June 2025. PP Softtech was linked to imports worth about $25 million between January 2024 and June 2025, while Prakrutees Infra Impex imported about $25 million worth between May 2023 and February 2026, TOI reported.
Prashant Garg, an Indian national and director of PP Softtech, was also designated.
While the roughly $120 million in imports is small compared with India’s overall trade, the latest action signals a wider risk for companies dealing with Iran. The US is increasingly targeting not only Iranian entities but also foreign intermediaries, importers, brokers, shipping companies and financial institutions that help Tehran generate revenue, according to TOI.
Washington’s wider Iran squeeze
The sanctions are part of what US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has called “Operation Economic Outcast“, aimed at cutting Iran’s remaining financial lifelines.
“Our objective is to sever every economic lifeline that sustains this tyrannical regime until Tehran stands alone,” Bessent said.
Nearly 60 entities, individuals and vessels were designated in the latest round. The campaign covers Iran’s oil and petrochemical revenues, shipping, banking, technology, gold, aviation and digital assets.
President Donald Trump has also warned countries that continue providing Iran with an economic lifeline. He has said countries whose banks, businesses, airports or government agencies support Iran would face “TREMENDOUS Economic Consequences”, while earlier describing the campaign as “ECONOMIC D-DAY”.
Trump has also been personally calling foreign leaders with what Bessent described as “specific requests” to stop interacting with Iran.
The sanctions push also comes as Washington appears to be shifting away from immediate military escalation and towards sustained economic pressure. Axios reported that Secretary of State Marco Rubio told allied foreign ministers that the US does not expect to launch fresh strikes against Tehran “for the time being”, while maintaining a naval blockade and seeking to keep oil flowing through the Strait of Hormuz.
Why India is in the frame
The latest sanctions come as India continues to maintain limited but strategically important economic ties with Iran.
India has reduced its economic exposure to Tehran over the years, but trade with Iran and the Chabahar port remain important to New Delhi. Chabahar provides India access to Afghanistan while bypassing Pakistan.
Indian exports to Iran, including rice, tea and pharmaceuticals, could also face disruption as sanctions and the suspension of Dubai-based trade and financial transactions make payments and shipping more difficult, according to TOI.
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The latest US action therefore comes on top of existing tensions between Washington and New Delhi over tariffs, Russia and the Trump administration’s more transactional approach to India.
Evan Feigenbaum, a veteran Asia policymaker, warned that the “one-two punch” of secondary sanctions could “further erode US-India relations”. He said ties had “largely tanked during Trump’s second term,” according to TOI.
China gets a different treatment
The sanctions also highlight the different levels of leverage Washington has over India’s trade with Iran and China’s.
China is Iran’s biggest oil customer. While the US has sanctioned several Chinese and Hong Kong-linked entities in its Iran crackdown, Washington has stopped short of targeting major Chinese financial institutions or imposing sweeping country-level economic penalties that could trigger a direct confrontation with Beijing, TOI reported.
China’s economic leverage over the US, particularly through its dominance of rare earths and critical minerals, gives Beijing more room to absorb pressure.
Bessent also declined to name China when asked about major Iranian trading partners, saying some discussions were better conducted privately.
Iran has dismissed the US campaign as bluster. Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said Washington was not in a position to further restrict Iran’s relations with other countries and claimed Tehran’s trading partners were not taking the US warnings seriously.
Tehran has also threatened retaliation against countries cooperating with Washington, while China has rejected unilateral US sanctions as ineffective and called for diplomacy.
(With inputs from TOI)