Oil tankers and cargo ships line up in the Strait of Hormuz as seen from Khor Fakkan, United Arab Emirates, Wednesday, March 11, 2026. [Altaf Qadri/AP]
The European Union has said it had imposed sanctions on two Iranian individuals and a unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps for threatening the freedom of maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, through which around a fifth of the world’s oil flows.
The move marked the first time the bloc has used new powers to sanction Iran for restricting freedom of navigation.
The EU said in a written statement on Monday that it had added the Hormozgan Provincial Command of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy to its sanctions list, as well as Mohammad Akbarzadeh and Hamid Hosseini.
It said Akbarzadeh is Deputy Commander for Political Affairs of the IRGC Navy and Hosseini is a representative of Iran’s Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Products Exporters’ Union.
