New Delhi: The United States has imposed sanctions on four Indian companies and three Indian nationals who it says facilitated the import of Iranian petroleum and petrochemical products. The sanctions are part of what it has dubbed ‘Operation Economic Outcast’, a new campaign of tougher-than-ever sanctions against Iran.The sanctioned companies are Sadashiva Overseas Limited, which the US Treasury Department said imported $69 mn worth of Iranian-origin petroleum products between February 2024 and June 2025. Some of these supplies came from Bonjoure Commodity FZE, which had previously been sanctioned by the US, as per the department.PP Softtech Private Limited and Prakrutees Infra Impex India Private Limited were each said to have imported $25 mn worth of petroleum and related products from Iran. The total sanctioned imports by the four companies are worth $119 mn. Prashant Garg, identified as a director of PP Softtech, was added to the US sanctions list, last updated on August 24, 2026.At the same time, Portease Partners LLP, a customs broker based in India, was alleged to have facilitated shipments of Iranian petrochemical products into India and has also been sanctioned. The firm’s partners, Indrismiya Asharafmiya Shekh and Harish Ramchandra Rangi are individual Indian nationals who have been sanctioned separately.US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Tuesday (August 25) after the measures that its new economic steps will “tighten the noose” around the Iranian government, while President Donald Trump said a day before that the country was “completely collapsing“.Under the new campaign, economic engagement “of any kind” with Iran would be penalised by the US, Bessent said, referring to the sanctions as “economic D-Day”. They were announced amidst a fragile US-Iran ceasefire, with no lasting settlement in sight.Four India-based firms were sanctioned by the US for what it said was their involvement in Iran’s petroleum and petrochemical industry in February. Six Indian companies and three Indians were also sanctioned in July last year, among other instances.Responding to Tuesday’s developments, Iran said it was “fully prepared” to face these and more US sanctions, with Iranian Economy Minister Ali Madanizadeh saying Iran had a “two-year plan” to counter them.The latest US sanctions list includes around 20 new companies in China and Hong Kong and four China-based individuals as well.