U.S. Department of State Weekly Digest Bulletin

Belgium’s National Day
07/21/2025

Belgium’s National Day
07/21/2025 01:15 PM EDT

Marco Rubio, Secretary of State
HomeOffice of the SpokespersonPress Releases…Belgium’s National Day
hide

Belgium’s National Day

Press Statement

July 21, 2025

On behalf of the United States of America, I extend our congratulations to the people of Belgium on your National Day.


Belgium and the United States share a commitment to peace and security as founding members of NATO. We will continue to work together to strengthen the Alliance’s capabilities and readiness as we work toward the 5 percent defense investment commitment enshrined in The Hague Defense Investment Plan. We value our economic relationship and appreciate Belgium’s efforts to combat terrorism, organized crime, and narcotics trafficking.


On behalf of the American people, I wish the people of Belgium a peaceful and joyous day.


Tags
Belgium Bilateral Relations and Engagement Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs Office of the Spokesperson The Secretary of State


Secretary Rubio’s Meeting with Austrian Foreign Minister Meinl-Reisinger
07/24/2025

Secretary Rubio’s Meeting with Austrian Foreign Minister Meinl-Reisinger
07/24/2025 11:28 AM EDT


Office of the Spokesperson
HomeOffice of the SpokespersonPress Releases…Secretary Rubio’s Meeting with Austrian Foreign Minister Meinl-Reisinger
hide

Secretary Rubio’s Meeting with Austrian Foreign Minister Meinl-Reisinger

Readout
July 24, 2025

The following is attributable to Spokesperson Tammy Bruce:

Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Austrian Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger today in Washington. The Secretary and Meinl-Reisinger discussed efforts to protect sensitive research and technologies, as well as efforts to address conflict in the Middle East. Secretary Rubio welcomed significant investments from Austrian companies in the United States.

Tags
Austria Bilateral Relations and Engagement Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs Office of the Spokesperson The Secretary of State

Secretary Rubio’s Call with Portuguese Foreign Minister Rangel
07/24/2025

Secretary Rubio’s Call with Portuguese Foreign Minister Rangel
07/24/2025 02:46 PM EDT
Office of the Spokesperson
HomeOffice of the SpokespersonPress Releases…Secretary Rubio’s Call with Portuguese Foreign Minister Rangel
hide

Secretary Rubio’s Call with Portuguese Foreign Minister Rangel

Readout

July 24, 2025

The following is attributable to Spokesperson Tammy Bruce:

Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke today with Portuguese Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel and discussed the strengths of the bilateral relationship. They examined ways to deepen cooperation on trade, technology, and defense. Both leaders expressed their commitment to promoting transatlantic economic security and prosperity for the benefit of both nations.

Tags
Bilateral Relations and Engagement Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs Office of the Spokesperson Portugal The Secretary of State


U.S. Delivers $4 Billion FMF Loan Guarantee to Poland, Advancing Strategic Partnership and Strengthening NATO’s Eastern Flank
07/25/2025

U.S. Delivers $4 Billion FMF Loan Guarantee to Poland, Advancing Strategic Partnership and Strengthening NATO’s Eastern Flank
07/25/2025 08:20 AM EDT

Tammy Bruce, Department Spokesperson
HomeOffice of the SpokespersonPress Releases…U.S. Delivers $4 Billion FMF Loan Guarantee to Poland, Advancing Strategic Partnership and Strengthening NATO’s Eastern Flank
hide

U.S. Delivers $4 Billion FMF Loan Guarantee to Poland, Advancing Strategic Partnership and Strengthening NATO’s Eastern Flank

Press Statement

July 25, 2025

Today, the United States is proud to announce a $4 billion Foreign Military Financing (FMF) loan guarantee to the Republic of Poland. This substantial support reflects Poland’s serious commitment to its own defense and to sharing the burden of NATO’s collective security.


Poland remains one of America’s strongest and most dependable allies in Europe—a front-line nation on NATO’s Eastern Flank and a leader in defense investment. Since 2023, Poland has taken decisive steps to modernize its military and defend its sovereignty, including major purchases of advanced U.S. defense platforms such as Apache helicopters, the Airspace and Surface Radar Reconnaissance System, HIMARS rocket systems, and Patriot missile defense.


The FMF loan program strengthens U.S. national security by enabling key partners like Poland to invest in American-made defense systems—supporting U.S. jobs in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, and Texas, as well as industry and innovation. These deals promote peace through strength and ensure our allies are capable of defending themselves with reliable, proven systems built by the best defense industrial base in the world.


Today’s announcement reaffirms the United States’ commitment to strong bilateral partnerships based on mutual respect, shared investment, and strategic priorities. Working together, the United States and Poland are securing the future of NATO, deterring aggression, and standing firm for freedom, sovereignty, and peace in Europe.


For additional information, please contact the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs’ Office of Congressional and Public Affairs at pm-cpa@state.gov.

Tags
Bilateral Relations and Engagement Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs Bureau of Political-Military Affairs North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Office of the Spokesperson Poland Security and Defense Cooperation

The Week at State: July 18 – July 24, 2025
07/25/2025

View as a webpage / Share




July 18–24

This week, President Trump unveiled America’s AI Action Plan, setting out the future of artificial intelligence and laying the groundwork for America’s continued leadership in this technology.

Here’s what happened at State this week. ⤵️💪🏻 The United States welcomed home 10 Americans detained in Venezuela.
🇵🇭 Secretary Rubio met with Philippine President Marcos, Jr.
⬅️ The United States withdrew from UNESCO.
🇺🇸 The White House delegation attended the U.S. National Day at the 2025 World Expo Osaka.


U.S. Citizens Held in Venezuela Return Home

Ten unjustly detained Americans display American flags aboard a flight returning them to the United States. (State Dept.)

On July 18, the United States welcomed home 10 U.S. citizens who had been unjustly detained in Venezuela. Until their return, more Americans were wrongfully held in Venezuela than in any other country in the world.

“Our commitment to the American people is clear:” said Secretary Rubio in a statement, “We will safeguard the well-being of U.S. nationals both at home and abroad and not rest until all Americans being held hostage or unjustly detained around the world are brought home.”

The Secretary reiterated the Trump Administration’s call for the restoration of democracy in Venezuela and the release of all remaining political prisoners.


Secretary Rubio Welcomes Philippine President

Secretary Marco Rubio meets with Philippine President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. at the Department of State in Washington, DC, July 21, 2025. (Official State Department photo by Freddie Everett)

On July 21, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., met with Secretary Rubio ahead of his meeting with President Trump later that day.

Secretary Rubio and President Marcos discussed the importance of the ironclad United States–Philippines Alliance, calling it a bedrock of peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region.

They also discussed shared priorities for economic growth, including the Luzon Economic Corridor, a joint initiative by the United States, Japan, and the Philippines to develop infrastructure in the Philippines' Luzon region.


United States Ends Participation in UNESCO

(© Bumble Dee/Shutterstock.com)

On July 22, President Trump withdrew the United States from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

“President Trump has decided to withdraw the United States from UNESCO — which supports woke, divisive cultural and social causes that are totally out-of-step with the commonsense policies that Americans voted for in November,” White House deputy spokesperson Anna Kelly said.

Spokesperson Tammy Bruce explained that continued involvement in UNESCO is not in the national interest of the United States. She called the organization’s ideological agenda “at odds with the President’s America First Foreign Policy.”


American Spirit Shines at 2025 World Expo Osaka

(State Dept.)



This week, a White House delegation representing the United States traveled to Osaka, Japan, for the U.S. National Day at the 2025 World Expo.

At the U.S. Pavilion, American innovation, culture, and values were on full display, highlighting the United States’ commitment to global friendship and diplomacy.

The delegation included Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.


News You May Have MissedThe Trump Administration expelled supporters of Haitian gang leaders connected to Viv Ansanm.The United States sanctioned petroleum and financial networks supporting Houthis.
The U.S. Department of State is opening an investigation into Harvard University’s continued eligibility as a sponsor for the Exchange Visitor Program.


Looking AheadJuly 30: World Day against Trafficking in Persons
Note to Our Readers

📩 We welcome feedback at EmailTeam@state.gov

Was this forwarded to you? Subscribe to The Week at State for weekly updates on important work, activities, and news straight from the State Department.

Useful linksTravel advisories and updates for U.S. Citizens
Did you know that you can invite a State Department official to speak at your school, business, or organization? Learn about what we do through the firsthand experience of one of our representatives.

Read More at State.gov

Secretary of State Marco Rubio With Lara Trump of Fox News
07/26/2025

Secretary of State Marco Rubio With Lara Trump of Fox News
07/26/2025 11:46 PM EDT

Marco Rubio, Secretary of State

Washington, D.C.
HomeOffice of the SpokespersonPress Releases…Secretary of State Marco Rubio With Lara Trump of Fox News
hide

Secretary of State Marco Rubio With Lara Trump of Fox News


Interview

July 21, 2025


QUESTION: Secretary Rubio, thank you so much for sitting down with me.

SECRETARY RUBIO: Thank you.

QUESTION: Since becoming Secretary of State, you really have made some big changes here. You’ve kind of pared things back at the State Department. You’ve restructured some things here, and you actually say that this was long overdue.

SECRETARY RUBIO: Yeah.

QUESTION: So tell me about the changes you’ve made and why you felt like they were so important.

SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, the important thing to know is that we’ve reorganized the boxes in our org chart in terms of how the State Department functions. This wasn’t an effort to go in and get rid of people. It was an effort to reorganize. Now, if you get rid of a bureau you’re not going to use anymore, obviously you don’t need those positions anymore. And it was very small. I mean, it was 1,300 people out of 70- or 50- or 60,000. I read these reports about how we’ve gutted American diplomacy. It’s really silly.

But here’s the fundamental nature of it: It took too long to get things done. We had too many bureaus, too many offices. They were unaligned with each other. I get these decision memos, and these decision memos have to be cleared by these different desks, these different offices. Some of them had 30 or 40 boxes; 30 or 40 people had to clear it before it even got to me, and that’s why it takes the State Department so long to function.

So what we’re changing on that is people can certainly give their opinion. If they don’t agree with a decision or they have concerns about it, that can be noted. But ultimately, I need to get that decision memo to my desk so we can take action. We can’t wait six weeks, six months, to do things. It renders us irrelevant, especially in a world that moves so fast.

QUESTION: Let me ask you about Russia. The President gave Russia 50 days to strike a peace deal or face, possibly, 100 percent tariffs. Where do you think Putin is on this? Do you think this is an effective strategy, and what do you expect to see happen?

SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, first of all, I think everybody should be very happy that the American president, the President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, is focused on peace. There’s nothing he wants more than to be a part of peace agreements, stopping wars, preventing wars, ending wars. It’s not his war. He didn’t start this war. It didn’t happen – it never would have happened – had he been president, but it did. He inherits it, and he’s done everything possible to bring it to an end. I think he’s growing increasingly frustrated that, despite having very good interactions with Vladimir Putin in phone calls, it never leads to anything. So the time has come for some action here, and I think the President has made that abundantly clear. He’s losing his patience. He’s losing his willingness to continue to wait for the Russian side to do something here to bring an end to this – to this war that wasn’t his war, but he wants to see it come to an end.

Since January of this year, over 100,000 Russian soldiers – just on the Russian side – have been killed. It’s a bloody conflict with a lot of death and destruction. A lot of this engagement has been really about playing for time and sort of delay tactics to make it look like they’re interested in peace but not really serious about it.

He’s not going to fall into that trap of being pulled into endless talks about talks. And I think he picks up a lot of that from his just understanding of human nature and human behavior, having dealt with some of the most cutthroat people in business for 40, 50 years.

QUESTION: The negotiator-in-chief, some say.

SECRETARY RUBIO: Yeah, and he enjoys that part of the job, by the way.

QUESTION: He does, yeah.

SECRETARY RUBIO: He does. He enjoys that part of the job. And I think it’s very useful for us because, ultimately, we know we have the ultimate closer in the administration with our President. And as our job is to put these deals together, bring them, usually, to the 95 percent range of agreement, and then he comes in at the end and closes it. And whether that’s on trade or hopefully on peace, that’s the role he’s played, and it’s a very powerful role. That last 5 percent, those last few yards, are always the hardest one in any negotiation.

QUESTION: Well, so many people talk about the fact that China is conspiring with Russia and Iran. How does the U.S. deal with that and a potential alliance between those three?

SECRETARY RUBIO: Everybody knows – it’s not a secret – that China is giving Russia as much aid as they can get away with without being discovered. The Europeans have caught onto this. There is no way that Putin could have sustained this war without Chinese support, particularly buying his oil. And I think the Chinese have an incentive to see this war go on. They think that the longer this war goes on, it’ll distract us and prevent us from focusing on other parts of the world that they’re interested in.

With Iran, the Chinese also buy a lot of their sanctioned oil and have provided them some defense articles in the past. I think everyone – China, Russia, others, even North Korea – have become a little bit more cautious about supporting Iran, especially after our B-2s flew halfway around the world and conducted an operation and left before anyone found out about it.

So I think that what’s happened now is a lot of these countries are being – in the middle of that war, when Iran turned to Russia, turned to China, turned to some of their proxies, they all kind of took a pass and said we don’t want to get involved in this thing. It sort of reminded the world that we have a strong President and the most extraordinary military capabilities in the world. No one has the things we have in our defense, whether it’s our airplanes, our missiles, our bombs that we use, and our guided munitions. A lot of people had forgotten that. President Trump reminded them.

QUESTION: You also recently met with the Chinese foreign minister. Do you feel like there are still areas where we could see cooperation between the U.S. and China, and what came out of that meeting overall?

SECRETARY RUBIO: Yeah, look, the United States and China are the two most powerful and important countries in the world. So we have to have relations. We have to be able to talk to them, and we have to, if possible, find areas of cooperation.

We’re going to have some irritants, there’s no doubt about it. I think just talking about the trade perspective, just understand – everybody should understand this – for 30 years the Chinese have basically carried out this economic scheme or operation where they could sell anything they want into the United States. Every Chinese company, unfettered access to the U.S. market, the most important consumer market in the world. But the Chinese market is completely closed. So their market is closed and their companies are protected inside of China, but then they want the right to be able to sell us anything they want and export anything they want.

And it’s not just been going on for a year or two years. This has been going on for three decades. President Trump has been talking about this for 20 years. This is not some new thing he discovered the day after he was sworn in. He’s been talking about this forever.

So all he’s saying is, I don’t understand it. They get to do whatever they want here; we get to do nothing over there. How is that fair? I’m going to rebalance it. But the – but I think we have to be able to do that, and at the same time understand that there are things we have to be able to interact with the Chinese on just to avoid misunderstandings.

So we have to have relations with them. We want to have respectful relations with them. And in those areas where we have disagreement, we always have to stand on the American side of the issue.

QUESTION: We used to see hostages kind of used as a bargaining chip. You don’t really see that anymore —

SECRETARY RUBIO: Yeah.

QUESTION: — not under this President. So tell me about this three-country prisoner swap that involved El Salvador and Venezuela with the United States.

SECRETARY RUBIO: Yeah. Well, let’s start with who was in El Salvador. Who was in El Salvador were about 250 members of Tren de Aragua, which is a designated terrorist organization; it’s a street gang from Venezuela. Normally you would take them and deport them back to their home country. The problem is Venezuela was using that as a weapon against us. They were saying, okay, we will do that; we will only take deportees if you give us this concession or that concession.

When Joe Biden was president, he made a deal with the Venezuelans on deportations. And in exchange, two convicted drug dealers – who happen to be the nephews of Nicolás Maduro – were returned. His bagman, his moneyman, his henchman, the guy that collected all his money from around the world, was also indicted, was in a prison in the United States. He was released. They gave him all these concessions. In the case of President Trump, he says, I’m not giving you any concessions. So, since Venezuela wouldn’t take them, we sent them to El Salvador, who housed them in their prisons.

Now, an opportunity presented itself for those people to be sent – those criminals, those gang members, to be sent back to where they belong, which is in Venezuela. It’s where they came from. Maduro, who’s not even the president of Venezuela – he’s a narco-trafficking leader – he is an indicted drug dealer by the Southern District of New York in the United States, and he desperately wants us to take that indictment off of him. That’s what he wants. He’s not going to get that, and he didn’t get that.

And that’s a big difference from what you saw in the past. If we had done that, within five days you would’ve seen 10 more Americans arrested. Because that’s what all these countries around the world are doing: They arrest Americans, knowing that they can use them as bargaining chips. But not with this administration.

QUESTION: Well, what about the hostages held by Hamas?

SECRETARY RUBIO: Yeah.

QUESTION: There’s been some success and movement there. Do you feel like there could be more on that front?

SECRETARY RUBIO: Yeah. The good news is every American is out now. We care about all the hostages. And there’s a very simple solution to what’s happening in Gaza: Release all the hostages, lay down your arms, and the war ends for Hamas. They don’t agree to that, obviously. So Steve Witkoff, who’s amazing, has been working on that day and night for weeks. And they’ve made a lot of progress, and they’re close.

But we’re optimistic and hopeful that any day now we will have a ceasefire agreement where at least half the hostages, including the deceased, will be released, and at the end of that 60-day period the remaining hostages would be released. I think Steve’s doing a phenomenal job with that, and hopefully we’ll have good news to report on that as soon as possible.

(Break.)

QUESTION: Well, I want to talk about you. You are the son of parents who came here from Cuba to pursue the American dream.

SECRETARY RUBIO: Yeah.

QUESTION: Do you think they would have ever imagined having a son who was first a United States senator and now Secretary of State? That is really the American dream.

SECRETARY RUBIO: Yeah. And I don’t know how many kids grow up to say I want to be a senator and secretary of state, either. (Laughter.) I don’t know if they would have imagined it. I do think my parents really believed and instilled the best – my parents didn’t leave me any money or connections or anything like that. But the one thing I did inherit from my parents was this unyielding belief that we weren’t limited because of who they were. In essence, my parents never made us feel like – because he was a bartender and she was a maid, and they came from Cuba – that there are things I couldn’t do, there are things their kids couldn’t do. We never – I never felt that growing up. On the contrary, I always – they instilled in us that, basically, you can be anything you want. If you have the ability to do it, you’ll have a real chance to do it because you’re in the one place on Earth where that’s possible.

So that’s the greatest gift my parents left me, and I think it speaks more broadly to what America has always been about. And I mean, it’s not just me. I mean, if you look across our government, if you look across our business class, if you look across – very little of the top leaders in American business inherited the companies they now run. Many of these are people that came from different backgrounds that achieved extraordinary things. And that’s what we always want to continue to be as a country.

So yeah, it’s a testament to my parents, but I really think it’s a testament to America.

QUESTION: And as he leads the way for America on the world stage, Secretary Rubio is saying true to those core values.

I know that your faith, Secretary, has always been a big part of your life, so how has that come into play to help you in your new role here?

SECRETARY RUBIO: That’s a great question. I think you rely on your faith more than anything else to ground you, like to remind you that at the end of the day everything you do is transitory and that there’s – it also reminds you that as big as government is or as important as politics is in many cases, there’s something more important.

I think it also reminds you too of, like, the most important jobs you have. I’ve always said it: I don’t care what job you have, the most important job I’m ever going to have is my role as a husband and as a father, and that comes from my faith as well.

QUESTION: Your family is also, I know, such a big part of your life.

SECRETARY RUBIO: Yeah.

QUESTION: And you I talked once upon a time, and I know famously when you were in the Senate you didn’t miss games, you didn’t miss any of the important things in your —

SECRETARY RUBIO: I tried not to. Sometimes I did, I know.

QUESTION: You tried not to. But how is it working now? Because this is a big job.

SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, it’s a little harder. My kids are a little older now.

QUESTION: Yeah.

SECRETARY RUBIO: So I think they have more going on in their own lives that doesn’t involve us as much in terms of, like, being there. But I still try not to miss things. The rule always was if it’s something that’s never going to happen again, I want to be there. I think we did a pretty good job on that.

QUESTION: Seems like it so far.

SECRETARY RUBIO: Yeah.

QUESTION: (Laughter.) All right, we’re going to go have some coffee. Let’s go.

SECRETARY RUBIO: This is your shot of Cuban coffee.

QUESTION: So this is it. Okay.

SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, you’ve had this before.

QUESTION: Yeah.

SECRETARY RUBIO: All right.

QUESTION: What do I need to know? How do we drink it? Sip?

SECRETARY RUBIO: I drink it – like, try to in two sips, is my —

QUESTION: Okay, let’s see. Oh, in two sips. I’ve got to catch up. Hold on.

SECRETARY RUBIO: Yeah. Well, the thing about this is like – what I love about Cuban coffee is that if you buy it from a coffee stand in Miami, it’s like a dollar. If you buy an espresso from Starbucks or one of these other places, it’s like four.

QUESTION: Yeah, I know. This is the way to go.

SECRETARY RUBIO: So it’s the same thing – it is.

QUESTION: This is the way to go.

We’re looking out over the U.S. Capitol Building there, and you were there for 14 years as a senator.

SECRETARY RUBIO: Yeah.

QUESTION: So does it feel surreal to be here now, looking out over what used to be your old job?

SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, we’ve been so busy the last six months that I haven’t had time to sort of sit back and sort of appreciate that. But I will tell you that a lot of what I learned working in that building, which is a very different job from this one, has been very useful to me here and in understanding and appreciating the role Congress plays. But now I’m in the Executive Branch, right? So I think being there prepared me for this. I didn’t know I was going to be here. And I have great – we did a lot of really good things while I was over there that I’m very proud of, but yeah, I haven’t had time to sort of take that in. We’ve been really busy the last six months. We’re going to —

QUESTION: We like you busy. That’s good stuff.

SECRETARY RUBIO: Yeah.

QUESTION: So we want you to keep it up.

SECRETARY RUBIO: We will.

QUESTION: Certainly keeping busy alongside President Trump. You’d almost forget they were once staunch opponents.

Tell me about going from sparring with President Trump on a debate stage to now working alongside him every single day.

SECRETARY RUBIO: I’m a big fan of martial – particularly, like, MMA, but boxing and stuff like that. And I always chuckle when politics – because if two people – when two guys get in the ring, they can like each other. And you see after every fight, they shake hands, they appreciate the combat. You respect someone who’s willing to step into that octagon, right? Because very few people in the world are willing to actually step in there and do that. But no one’s ever asked these fighters: Why did you punch that guy in the face in the second round? I mean, no one would ask that. It was a stupid question, right?

So in 2016, both President Trump and I were – I didn’t know him; I’d never met him before. I knew who he was, obviously, but I’d never met him. And we happened to be competing for the same thing. So in any competition, especially as you get down and it narrows down to three or four people, punches are going to be thrown. But then that ends, and then the – then we’re on the same team, because he’s the Republican nominee and I’m a Republican.

I was in the Senate during the four years of his first term and it was the best four years I had in the Senate. We got a lot done together. And then obviously he’s a resident of Florida, so he was my constituent, and we stayed in touch during that time. And then I was very happy to be helpful on the campaign. He picked one of my closest friends in politics, JD Vance, to be Vice President. It was a great team. And then we were on the same team from that point forward and have been ever since.

QUESTION: How is he to work with daily?

SECRETARY RUBIO: It’s a lot of fun.

QUESTION: Yeah.

SECRETARY RUBIO: It is fun. And, I mean, it’s fun for two reasons. The first is he’s a person of action. And I don’t mean that in a reckless way, but in a let’s get this thing done, and it isn’t like let’s wait six months to do it. It’s more like on a six to eight-hour time constraint. So I think the chance for someone like me that’s been around this for a little bit, coming from the Senate where it took forever just to get a bill passed, to be in a place and in a position where things that you’ve wanted to do – reorganizing the State Department, getting engaged in different parts of the world and doing some of the things we’ve done – to actually be able to execute and do and have the backing of the President to do things and get things done is incredibly rewarding. There is no point in being in this business, in this line of work, if you can’t get things done. So that makes it a lot of fun.

And then I think the other part that most people don’t see – and, frankly, I had not seen as much until the last couple years being around him – he’s a lot of fun to be around as a person. I mean, and he has extraordinary – in my view, uncanny – instincts. And I’ve seen that play out time and time again, and I think that’s a very underappreciated part of his leadership skill set. He has incredible instincts for human behavior, human nature, and it translates to politics and global events.

QUESTION: Final question: You just brought up your run in 2016 for president. You are talked about quite frequently as a possible contender in 2028. Do you have your sights set outside of the State Department?

SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, I think JD Vance would be a great nominee. (Laughter.) And if – I think if he decides he wants to do that. And so – and I think he’s doing a great job as Vice President. He’s a close friend, and I hope he intends to do it. I know it’s kind of early.

But being in the role that I’m in here as the Secretary of State, I really don’t play in politics. There’s actually rules against me being involved in domestic politics, and I want to do this job as long as the President allows me to do it and stay in that job, which would keep me here all the way through January of 2028.

I feel honestly – you never know what the future holds; you never rule things out or anything, because you just don’t know. Things change very quickly. But that said, I believe that if I am able to be here through the duration of this presidency and we get things done at the pace that we’ve been doing the last six months, I’ll be able to look back at my time in public service and say I made a difference, I had an impact, and I served my country in a very positive way. And I would be satisfied with that as the apex of my career, and so that’s what I’m focused on right now, because we’re doing some special things that I think are going to bear dividend and fruit for a generation.

Tags
Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs China Foreign Policy Media Engagement Office of the Spokesperson Russia The Secretary of State Venezuela


Digital Press Briefing with AFRICOM Leaders on advancing U.S.-Africa Security Cooperation and the Angola and Namibia Visit
07/28/2025
Digital Press Briefing with AFRICOM Leaders on advancing U.S.-Africa Security Cooperation and the Angola and Namibia Visit
07/28/2025 12:05 PM EDT

Lieutenant General John W. Brennan, Deputy Commander, U.S. Africa Command

Ambassador Robert Scott, Deputy Commander for Civil-Military Engagement, U.S. Africa Command

Africa Regional Media Hub

MODERATOR: Good afternoon to everyone from the U.S. Department of State’s Africa Regional Media Hub. I welcome our participants logging in from across the continent and thank all of you for joining us. Today, we are very pleased to be joined by U.S. Africa Command’s Deputy Commander, Lt. Gen. John W. Brennan, and the Deputy to the Commander for Civil-Military Engagement, Ambassador Robert Scott.

During the briefing, Lt. Gen. Brennan and Ambassador Scott will discuss the importance of their engagements in Angola and Namibia, underscoring U.S. Africa Command’s continued commitment to strengthening partnerships in Africa to promote stability and collective defense through cost-effective, African-led solutions that minimize direct U.S. military involvement.

We will begin today’s briefing with opening remarks from Lt. General Brennan and Ambassador Scott, then we will turn to your questions. We will try to get to as many of them as we can during the briefing.

With that, I would like to turn it over to Lt. Gen. Brennan and Ambassador Scott for their opening remarks.

LT. GEN. BRENNAN: Hello, everyone. Thank you. I really appreciate the opportunity. Thanks for the inquisitive nature of your questions. I look forward to answering them. We had a great visit to – first to Namibia and then to Angola. It’s a long time in the making. We’ve tried to get down there several times, but events overcame us a couple of times with travel. But it was a well-timed visit, particularly with Angola’s JCET that was going on, the joint combined exercise training that I actually approved at the J3 at United States Special Operations Command, and to see it come to fruition was really valuable for us as well as really engaging at the senior level of both governments, which has – is something that has not happened yet with this administration.

So I think we opened some doors and we made some great connections that will, I think, bear fruit in the future on the security front as well as the economic investment front. And I’ll turn it over to Ambassador Scott.

AMBASSADOR SCOTT: Yeah, hi. Thanks. Again, thanks for joining this call. I would just add to what Lt. Gen. Brennan said. What struck me in the visit was how tightly interlocked kind of security is with prosperity, with economic development. And we saw this especially with the maritime and the trade issues. When we were in Namibia, heard a lot about Walvis Bay and their undertaking to turn that into what they’re hoping to be a regional hub for transshipment of goods; and of course when we were in Angola, the Lobito Corridor, where the United States is taking the lead in helping the region develop the transformational corridor for trade.

So it’s interesting for me to see how all these things are tied together, especially with the maritime domain – an area that we’re working tightly with maritime domain awareness and things like that. So it was, again, just to echo what Lt. Gen. Brennan said, it was a very good visit, very good meetings throughout. Thank you.

MODERATOR: Thank you, Lt. Gen. Brennan and Ambassador Scott. We will now begin the question-and-answer portion of today’s briefing.

With that, I would like to go to our first question, which is from Mr. Melchizedek Boshirwa from Andika magazine in Burundi. And he asks: “AFRICOM highlights its support for ‘cost-effective, African-led solutions’ to security. Can you provide concrete examples from your recent engagements in Angola and Namibia where local military or civil institutions are being empowered with real decision-making authority, beyond training or equipment support?” And that’s directed to both Lt. Gen. Brennan and Ambassador Scott.

LT. GEN. BRENNAN: All right, I’ll take a stab at it. So I think, first and foremost, it’s important to note that we always seek African solutions to African problems. That said, all of our training and exercises are African-led, partner-led, and ally-enabled. So much different than some of the other institutions in Europe that operate down there – obviously, the Russians operate assets and do other malign activity, as does China. And then when they train with African partners, it’s more of they are training aides and they are not leading the actual training efforts.

So a marked difference between how we do business on the continent. I think that the cost-effective nature of what we do, particularly things like the JCETs, very small footprint, light footprint but have strategic outcomes because of the relationships that are formed during the JCETs as well as the larger exercises where we can convene, like, 30 to 50 different countries in one place for an exercise, which we typically do several times a year and we’re trying to expand the base of that exercise to include Namibia and Angola – things like African Lion, Obangame Express. They’re participated with some observers. Now we want full participation from the other countries that operate there.

So with that, I’ll turn it over to Ambassador Scott.

AMBASSADOR SCOTT: Yeah, just to add – first, thanks for the question – I think the Lobito Corridor also gives a sense of that. What we’re seeing is security leveraging economic development and vice versa. We were briefed on a couple of things when we were in Angola specifically. You’ve got obviously the rehabilitation of the rail line itself that leads all the way up into the eastern DRC through Angola. We heard that the average number of days to bring a good, whether it’s an agricultural product or copper, from the border of DRC to Lobito has been cut from 28 days to seven days.

And so that’s an enormously important change, and I can provide additional details maybe a little bit further on, but I think that that’s important because then, as those goods come in and out of that port in Lobito, that’s where we’re working with the Angolan Government, and things like Obangame Express, so that they feel comfortable that they’ve got a secure – they know what’s going on off their coastline, they’re able to secure their coastline. And we’re working with them on maritime domain awareness, things like SeaVision, which we provide licenses for – it’s a technology that allows their navy and coast guard to know exactly what ships are off their coastline, who they are, what they’re doing.

So I think that that was very interesting and positive things to be doing in the trip as well. Thank you.

MODERATOR: Thank you for that. On to our next question from Ms. Pearl Matibe, from South Africa, and she asks: “In highlighting the importance of engaging Angola and Namibia, how do you define what it means to work ‘alongside’ these governments in a way that reinforces mutual security goals without risking the perception of a patron-client dynamic?”

LT. GEN. BRENNAN: Yes, so in the security sector, we obviously assess the security needs of our partners, and we’ve done that in both Namibia and Angola. And then we provide options for them to purchase equipment, receive training, et cetera, based on those assessments. And so every – like I said before, every exercise that we execute is African-led, partner-led, and ally-enabled.

AMBASSADOR SCOTT: And I can just add something. What was interesting for me as well in the last couple of years with Obangame Express is – let’s take this year’s Obangame Express. It was organized around the Yaoundé Code of Conduct. So that is the regional construct developed by the African members, the member-states, basically all the way from Mauritania down to Namibia, to organize themselves for maritime security. And they have regions A, B, C, D, et cetera, and they’ve got two regional centers that they – that they have organized, one in Pointe-Noire, which I had a chance to visit, and I think the other one in Senegal.

But the idea behind Obangame Express was to support their structures. So the entire exercise was built around them doing exercises with us in support of and using the rules of engagement of their code of conduct. There was also a interesting tabletop exercise on legal finish on IUUF – again, a big focus point for all of our partners in Africa: How can they get on top of blocking those countries, those fleets, which are taking all their fish out of the ocean. And there were 75 people in Praia from all the participating countries – I think there were 19 – and they basically came together to talk about the entire range: knowing who’s out in your ocean, being able to intercept them, and then having the legal ability to actually prosecute them on land. So their moot court activities were – there are things which take place, a hypothetical case with a supreme court justice from a country running through it. All of those things organized in order to support the initiative and the structure developed by the African members – countries themselves.

MODERATOR: Thank you for that. Now, this next question is directed to you directly, Ambassador Scott, and it’s from Lwazi Manqele from the North Coast Radio in South Africa, and she asks: “Please list any socioeconomic development programs that the U.S. military is involved in in the SADC region to ensure that peacekeeping has broad-based value-added benefit for the region long after the U.S. military operations have left.”

AMBASSADOR SCOTT: Well, I think this is a joint answer between myself and Lt. Gen. Brennan. But I would – let me take the first stab at it. I think all the training that is done has a knock-on effect that the troops that are trained with us are able to engage in security operations into the future.

I think Gen. Brennan’s got a very nice way of describing that, and if you let me have him take this question just for a second.

LT. GEN. BRENNAN: Yes. So we – we’re pleased to announce that the Angolans were approved for the State Partnership Program, which is a hugely valuable institution for any African country. We highlighted the benefits of it. It’s more than just military-to-military relationships with our Air and Army National Guard Forces, but it also brings all the great things that that state has in their (inaudible) as well as their institutions of higher learning, their industries, et cetera. And you’re seeing that play out with North Carolina and their partnership with Zambia, Malawi, and Botswana. So I know the state has actually been determined, but it has not been announced yet, which it will be soon. So we’re very excited about that.

You’ve also got, as the ambassador highlighted – rightfully so – security begets investment. It lowers the risk to American companies who are wanting to invest in Africa. And then we’ve seen the Office of Strategic Capital, part of DOD, though AID’s budget is no more, they have doubled their budget for investment in companies, African companies on the continent as well as U.S. companies investing in African institutions.

AMBASSADOR SCOTT: This is Ambassador Scott again, just real quickly. I think when you take a look at the tools, when you talk about socioeconomic development, I think it’s all – it’s kind of part of an interlocked package. So as Lt. Gen. Brennan said, it’s the training that begets the security which allows the countries to project themselves as a safe place for investment to take place. We’ve also seen the Development Finance Corporation, another entity within the U.S. Government, which has doubled its available capital in the last number of years and is very actively involved.

We were struck also – to give you an example, there’s a $1 billion project in Angola. It’s Sun Africa. It’s financed by the Export-Import Bank of the United States. So that project provides for power, which can help provide the industries which would take advantage of Lobito Corridor to bring products in and out of the country and the region.

Two other things were tied into this as well, one is a U.S. company, Acrow Bridge; it has a contract and is building 185 bridges which run north as well as east-west, which allows the Angolan producers of primarily agricultural products but others as well to connect with each other, and then there’s a big project for grain silos. As we all know food waste or grain waste is a huge problem. So you get the crop in but you have insects or fungus, and the grain silos will help protect that.

So it’s all part of a big ecosystem of investment, but as the general said, the investment is enabled by a sense of security, which again AFRICOM is helping our partners provide. Thank you.

MODERATOR: Thank you, Ambassador Scott. The next question is from Dean Wingrin from DefenseWeb in South Africa, and he asks: “How important is Southern Africa to AFRICOM and, by implication, the U.S.? Do you see foresee further military-to-military exercises within SADC countries, or will the focus change to more higher-level discussions?”

LT. GEN. BRENNAN: Yeah, so all of the above we wish to increase. So the participation of SADC countries in exercises – we already host lots of high-level discussions. We have the African – the CHOD, the Chiefs Of Defense Conference annually, which was in Botswana last year. We’re looking to expand those types of venues. Yeah, in 2024 it was in Botswana and Nairobi in 2025, but we also have maritime naval leaders conferences, the air commodores conferences that are throughout the continent. We deliberately host those events, ask our African partners to host those events in their countries to increase participation. It also drives down costs for us and them, and we wish to expand that along with our exercise programs. So more African countries participating the better. We’ve also expanded our allies participation. We now have usually partners and allies from across all the continents, less Antarctica, that participate in the exercises.

So as an example, Cutlass Express was our naval exercise in East Africa; Tanzania hosted a portion of it, and we had participation from India, from Sri Lanka, we had participation from Korea and Japanese naval leaders as well as Brazil. So great venues that we are looking to expand.

MODERATOR: Great. We have a question now from Lucia Blanco from EFE Spanish News Agency in Kenya. And they ask: “In the context of Western countries being forced to remove their military presence in Africa, why is it important for the U.S. to now focus on solutions for the continent that avoid direct military interventions?”

LT. GEN. BRENNAN: Well, in a way I think Lucia answered their own question there. I think it’s obviously – it’s more difficult to conduct things like counterterrorism operations if you’re not present on the ground, which is why we’re focusing on building our partners’ capacities so that they can respond to terrorist activities, and then enabling more partners to conduct multilateral operations that we support from afar with our partners, maybe not on the ground but with things like training and equipping. Over.

MODERATOR: Thank you. Then we go to the next question from Nick Turse from The intercept in the UK, and their question is: “Was there any mention, discussion – or discussion of the deportation of so-called third-country nationals with officials from either country?” So I’m presuming either Angola or Namibia.

LT. GEN. BRENNAN: No, this topic wasn’t brought up at all. I would ask that you contact the Department of Homeland Security on this issue. It’s not a DOD issue.

MODERATOR: Thank you. And the next question is from Mr. Julian Pequet, The Africa Report in the USA. And his question is: “What is the main focus of your engagement in Angola and Namibia, two countries where jihadist groups don’t currently seem to present much of a threat?” And there’s another question, but I’ll give you an opportunity to answer that one first.

LT. GEN. BRENNAN: Sure. Security is security. It’s really preventative. There are jihadist groups that operate all along the periphery of both Angola and Namibia. ISIS has franchises in Mozambique, South Africa, as well as an emerging Mexican drug cartel issue that we think is going to – is getting worse over time, that’s emanating from South Africa and from coastal West Africa. We want to keep Namibia and Angola free of those threats as well as to prepare them for any future threats in – through the training and exercise program as well as the equipping.

MODERATOR: Okay, great. And the second question from The Africa Report is: “What is your regional strategy in Southern Africa? Is the U.S. expanding its military and defense cooperation across Southern Africa more broadly?”

LT. GEN. BRENNAN: In short, yes. We started the burgeoning relationship with SADC many years ago. Botswana is kind of the hub of that security, and we want to expand security partners who also provide troops to things like ATMIS and now AUSSOM in Somalia for the overall counter-VEO mission, as well as stopping illicit drug trafficking as well as human trafficking, which is a problem for Africa as a whole. We’ve seen partners in Mozambique. We just gave them some boats, and they use them to interdict drug shipments off their coast. Recently, 8 – I think it was $8 million worth of cocaine. So that problem, again, with the drug cartels exporting – creating drugs on the continent and then exporting them to Europe and the U.S., as well as Australia and for internal consumption in Africa, is a growing problem.

AMBASSADOR SCOTT: I would just add – the general mentioned earlier the State Partnership Program. So we’re seeing – we were just in Angola. They’re signing – have signed an agreement with a U.S. state to engage. It’s a broad set of engagements with governors’ offices, with universities, et cetera. I was our ambassador to Malawi a number of years ago. General Brennan was just down there and helped with the signature process. Yeah, for Angola, it’s Ohio is the state partnership.

I think we’re seeing this proliferation of engagement. So it’s through AFRICOM, but we’re also seeing it broadly in the United States with private companies. And we were in both countries, heard a lot about private companies coming in. The Corporate Council on Africa, the premier U.S. business association focused on Africa, had its annual Africa-wide meeting in Angola, in the hotel we stayed in just a month before we were there. So you’re seeing this kind of synergy between private sector, what’s – between U.S. agencies, the Development Finance Corporation, Office of Strategic Capital – all these things are coming together. And I think you’re seeing a lot of it play out in Southern Africa as well at this point. Thank you.

MODERATOR: Thank you. We have a question from Martin Plaut, the New Statesman in the UK, and he asks: “How is AFRICOM countering the social media attacks by President Putin’s Africa Corps?”

AMBASSADOR SCOTT: And then this will be the last question that the general will take, and then we’ve got to close out for the day.

MODERATOR: Yes, thank you so much. Sure.

LT. GEN. BRENNAN: All right. Yes. In short, at AFRICOM we like to have our actions speak for themselves. We also do our best to refute false information that Russia – both Russia and China put out about what we are, what we do on the continent. There’s – they spend billions of dollars and they, frankly, use social media and other tools – bots, trolls – to proliferate their narrative, their false narratives. And so we also have a network of allies and partners that help us refute the false information by using the truth, so that’s kind of our primary effort. But we don’t spend nearly the amount of money that both Russia and China spend a year, which is in the billions.

MODERATOR: Great. Thank you for that, Lt. Gen. Brennan. Are there any last words or final words that you’d like to share with us, Ambassador Scott or Lt. Gen. Brennan?

AMBASSADOR SCOTT: Yeah, I know the general has to run to a meeting, but I just wanted to address the last question which you had listed, if that’s okay, about Somalia. So you had a question, informally: Given our engagements in Angola and Namibia, are we expanding or do we have similar defense cooperation and capacity building in Somalia?

The answer is yes. We’re very active in Somalia. We’re – we have trained special forces, a set of units of Danab. We’re providing ongoing assistance to them in daily fashion. As you know, we’re helping them counter actively both al-Shabaab and ISIS up in the north. So there’s a wide range of engagements which we’re undertaking.

I think the general’s still got one minute. Thanks.

LT. GEN. BRENNAN: Again, it’s our – by far the biggest effort, it’s our main effort at AFRICOM, is to counter ISIS and al-Qaida affiliates, external operations threats to our homeland. And we’re doing it the most fervently in East Africa. That’s where most of our people are. And we think it’s the biggest investment that we have. And it’s – as the ambassador said, some of those special forces like the Danab, they are now being paid for by the Somali Government. And we anticipate more and more handing over responsibilities to the federal government of Somalia for their own security, but with our assistance. And I think one of the most meaningful decisions the administration has made was allowing us delegated, targeted engagement authority so that we can provide more proactive fire support to our partners on the ground.

MODERATOR: Great. Thank you – thank you for that.

So that concludes today’s briefing. I want to thank the U.S. Africa Command’s Deputy Commander, Lt. Gen. John W. Brennan, and the Deputy to the Commander for Civil-Military Engagement, Ambassador Robert Scott, for joining us. Thank you to all the journalists for participating.

A recording and transcript of today’s briefing will be distributed to participating journalists as soon as we can produce them. If you have any questions about today’s briefing, you may contact the Africa Regional Media Hub at AFMediaHub@state.gov. If you publish an article or broadcast from today’s briefing, please share a link with us using the same email address. I would like to invite everyone to follow us on X, previously Twitter, at our handle @AfricaMediaHub. Thank you.

# # #
Sanctioning Entities That Have Traded in Iran’s Petroleum
07/30/2025
Sanctioning Entities That Have Traded in Iran’s Petroleum
07/30/2025 03:47 PM EDT


Office of the Spokesperson
HomeOffice of the SpokespersonPress Releases…Sanctioning Entities That Have Traded in Iran’s Petroleum
hide

Sanctioning Entities That Have Traded in Iran’s Petroleum

Fact Sheet

July 30, 2025



The Iranian regime continues to fuel conflict in the Middle East to fund its destabilizing activities. Today, the United States is taking action to stem the flow of revenue that the regime uses to support terrorism abroad, as well as to oppress its own people. The Department of State is imposing sanctions on 20 entities engaged in Iranian petroleum, petroleum products, or petrochemical trade and is identifying 10 vessels as blocked property.

All targets are being designated pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13846, which authorizes and reimposes certain sanctions with respect to Iran.

Continued Targeting of Iran’s Shadow Fleet

The Department of State is designating five vessel management companies and a petroleum wholesale company for their involvement in the transport and purchase of Iranian petroleum, petroleum products, and petrochemical products. Iran’s oil and petrochemical exports are enabled by a network of such illicit shipping facilitators in multiple jurisdictions who, through obfuscation and deception, load and transport Iranian oil and petrochemicals for sale to buyers in third countries. The vessels managed by these companies have moved millions of barrels of Iranian crude oil, petroleum products, and petrochemical products and play a key role in the Iranian export supply chain. They have also regularly engaged in dark activity and other deceptive shipping practices, endangering other vessels and trade flows.

ETIHAD ENGINEERING AND MARINE SERVICES FZC (ETIHAD) engaged in a significant transaction for the transportation of Iranian petroleum products when a vessel it is the commercial manager of, SEATURBO (IMO 9204764), loaded Iranian reformate in Iran in September 2022. Additionally, ETIHAD is also the commercial manager of the following seven tankers, which have collectively transported Iranian petroleum product at least a dozen times since May 2023. TRUGEN (IMO: 9200861) is a Comoros flagged, oil products tanker
SEABASS (IMO: 9251640) is a Comoros flagged, oil products tanker
SEAHAKER (IMO: 9255488) is a Comoros flagged, oil products tanker
ZEAL (IMO: 9486895) is a Gabon flagged, oil products tanker
MOLLY (IMO): 9531375) is a Comoros flagged, chemical/oil products tanker
SOFIA (IMO: 9531387) is a Comoros flagged, oil products tanker
COURAGE 7 (IMO: 9553957) is a Gabon flagged, asphalt/bitumen tanker

ETIHAD is being designated pursuant to section 3(a)(ii) of E.O. 13846 for knowingly engaging in a significant transaction for the purchase, acquisition, sale, transport, or marketing of petroleum or petroleum products from Iran.

SEATURBO, TRUGEN, SEABASS, SEAHAKER, ZEAL, MOLLY, SOFIA, and COURAGE 7 are being identified as property in which ETIHAD has an interest.

FARADANESH TECHNICAL INSPECTION SERVICES COMPANY (FIS) engaged in a significant transaction for the transportation of Iranian petroleum products when it acted as the cargo surveyor for the loading of Iranian reformate in Iran in September 2022, certifying that the cargo was loaded onto a tanker for export. FIS is an Iran-based cargo inspection and surveyor company that operates in multiple Iranian ports. The main commodities it inspects include oil and oil derivatives, chemical and petrochemical products, and gas and natural gas. It has also provided services to U.S.-designated Iranian energy companies like U.S.-designated IRAN PETROCHEMICAL COMMERCIAL COMPANY.

FIS is being designated pursuant to section 3(a)(ii) of E.O. 13846 for knowingly engaging in a significant transaction for the purchase, acquisition, sale, transport, or marketing of petroleum or petroleum products from Iran.

ARZO ALTEJARA FOR GOODS WHOLESALERS CO L.L.C (ARZO), a company based in the United Arab Emirates, knowingly engaged in a significant transaction for the purchase of petroleum products from Iran between late April and early May 2024, when it purchased approximately 10,000 metric tons of fuel oil from the U.S.-designated NATIONAL IRANIAN OIL COMPANY.

ARZO is being designated pursuant to section 3(a)(ii) of E.O. 13846 for knowingly engaging in a significant transaction for the purchase, acquisition, sale, transport, or marketing of petroleum or petroleum products from Iran.

ENSA SHIP MANAGEMENT PRIVATE LIMITED (ENSA) has been the commercial manager of TIFANI (IMO 9273337) since December of 2024. TIFANI has loaded Iranian petroleum two times during ENSA’s tenure as the commercial manager of TIFANI. Both of these shipments were loaded in ship-to-ship (STS) transfers with U.S.-designated Iranian flagged tankers in the Singapore EOPL while conducting dark activity.

ENSA is being designated pursuant to section 3(a)(ii) of E.O. 13846 for knowingly engaging in a significant transaction for the purchase, acquisition, sale, transport, or marketing of petroleum or petroleum products from Iran. TIFANI is being identified as property in which ENSA has an interest.

PEACE WORTH SHIPPING CO., LIMITED (PEACE WORTH) is the China-registered commercial manager of a Panama-flagged chemical/oil products tanker, named TONDA SOURCE (IMO: 9127667). During PEACE WORTH’s tenure as the commercial manager of TONDA SOURCE, the vessel loaded Iranian-origin methanol in October 2022 and discharged its cargo in China. TONDA SOURCE has also conducted multiple loadings of Iranian-origin petrochemical products from 2022 to 2024. Nearly all of these loadings occurred while the vessel conducted dark activity.

PEACE WORTH is being designated pursuant to section 3(a)(iii) of E.O. 13846 for knowingly engaging in a significant transaction for the purchase, acquisition, sale, transport, or marketing of petrochemical products from Iran. TONDA SOURCE is being identified as property in which PEACE WORTH has an interest.

AVANI LINES INC (AVANI) is the registered owner and commercial manager of a vessel that conducted at least six voyages for the transport of Iranian-origin crude oil. Several of these Iranian crude oil cargos were loaded through ship-to-ship transfers with sanctioned tankers, including National Iranian Tanker Company tankers, and all cargos were discharged in China.

AVANI is being designated pursuant to section 3(a)(ii) of E.O. 13846 for knowingly engaging in a significant transaction for the purchase, acquisition, sale, transport, or marketing of petroleum or petroleum products from Iran.

Crude oil and petroleum products terminal

Today’s action also includes the designation of a fourth China-based crude oil and petroleum products terminal that has a demonstrated pattern of accepting Iranian crude oil and petroleum products, including from U.S. designated tankers. This behavior continues to enable Iran’s ability to fund its nuclear ambitions, support terrorist groups, and enable disruption of the flow of trade and freedom of navigation in waterways that are crucial to global prosperity and economic growth. The United States will continue to take action against the network of terminal operators, port agents, shippers, and service providers involved in the transport and acquisition of Iranian crude oil and petroleum products.

ZHOUSHAN JINRUN PETROLEUM TRANSFER CO., LTD. (ZHOUSHAN JINRUN) is a China-based operator of a crude oil terminal located within the greater Zhoushan port area, China. On April 17, 2025, ZHOUSHAN JINRUN facilitated the port call and discharge of U.S.-designated VIOLA (IMO: 9254915), which was designated on March 20, 2025. ZHOUSHAN JINRUN also facilitated the port call and discharge of the U.S.-designated tanker RANI (IMO: 9250907), and has received at least six shipments of Iranian-origin crude oil.

ZHOUSHAN JINRUN is being designated pursuant to section 3(a)(ii) of E.O. 13846 for knowingly engaging in a significant transaction for the purchase, acquisition, sale, transport, or marketing of petroleum or petroleum products from Iran.

Targeting Iran’s Petrochemical Trade

This action also includes the designation of thirteen entities across multiple jurisdictions, which have engaged in the transshipment, sale, and purchase of Iranian-origin petrochemicals. Although less significant in value than Iran’s crude oil exports, Iran’s petrochemical industry and exports are a critical sector of the Iranian economy and have grown in recent years to generate billions of dollars in illicit funds for Iran’s destabilizing activities. Similar to the regime’s illicit oil exports, Iranian petrochemical products are frequently transshipped through intermediaries in third countries in attempts to obfuscate their origin before the products reach their ultimate buyers. Today’s action targets those intermediaries, as well as the buyers of Iranian petrochemical products.

FIVA PLASTIK ANONIM SIRKETI (FIVA PLASTIK) is a Türkiye-based petrochemical trading company that has imported and purchased Iranian-origin petrochemical products valued at over USD 6.8M from multiple companies, including shipments of Iranian-origin petrochemical products from TRIOLIN TRADE FZCO, between January and September 2024. FIVA PLASTIK has imported petrochemical products manufactured from numerous Iran-based, U.S.-designated petrochemical companies, including JAM PETROCHEMICAL COMPANY, MARUN PETROCHEMICAL COMPANY, and SHAZAND PETROCHEMICAL COMPANY.

FIVA PLASTIK is being designated pursuant to section 3(a)(iii) of E.O. 13846 for knowingly engaging in a significant transaction for the purchase, acquisition, sale, transport, or marketing of petrochemical products from Iran.

TRIOLIN TRADE FZCO is a United Arab Emirates-based company that has exported and sold over USD 800K worth of Iranian-origin petrochemical products, including polyethylene, to FIVA PLASTIK.

TRIOLIN TRADE FZCO is being designated pursuant to section 3(a)(iii) of E.O. 13846 for knowingly engaging in a significant transaction for the purchase, acquisition, sale, transport, or marketing of petrochemical products from Iran.

TANAIS WAY GENERAL TRADING L.L.C. (TANAIS TRADING) is a United Arab Emirates-based company that has exported shipments of Iranian-origin polyethylene valued at over USD 1.7M to multiple companies, including India-based KANCHAN POLYMERS, between February and July 2024.

TANAIS TRADING is being designated pursuant to section 3(a)(iii) of E.O. 13846 for knowingly engaging in a significant transaction for the purchase, acquisition, sale, transport, or marketing of petrochemical products from Iran.

KANCHAN POLYMERS is an India-based company that has imported and purchased over USD 1.3M worth of Iranian-origin petrochemical products, including polyethylene, from TANAIS TRADING.

KANCHAN POLYMERS is being designated pursuant to section 3(a)(iii) of E.O. 13846 for knowingly engaging in a significant transaction for the purchase, acquisition, sale, transport, or marketing of petrochemical products from Iran.

ALCHEMICAL SOLUTIONS PRIVATE LIMITED (ALCHEMICAL SOLUTIONS) is an India-based petrochemical trading company that has imported and purchased Iranian-origin petrochemical products valued at over USD 84M from multiple companies between January and December 2024.

ALCHEMICAL SOLUTIONS is being designated pursuant to section 3(a)(iii) of E.O. 13846 for knowingly engaging in a significant transaction for the purchase, acquisition, sale, transport, or marketing of petrochemical products from Iran.

ELM KIMYA ITHALAT IHRACAT SANAYI VE TICARET ANONIM SIRKETI (ELM KIMYA) is a Türkiye-based petrochemical trading company that has imported Iranian-origin petrochemical products valued at over USD 3M from multiple companies, between January and September 2024.

ELM KIMYA is being designated pursuant to section 3(a)(iii) of E.O. 13846 for knowingly engaging in a significant transaction for the purchase, acquisition, sale, transport, or marketing of petrochemical products from Iran.

LAVINYA PLAST KIMYEVI MADDELER VE PETROL URUNLERI NAKLIYE SANAYI IC VE DIS TICARET ANONIM SIRKETI (LAVINYA PLAST) is a Türkiye-based petrochemical trading company that has imported and purchased Iranian-origin petrochemical products valued at over USD 5M from multiple companies between January and August 2024, including from PT. ORIENTAL.

LAVINYA PLAST is being designated pursuant to section 3(a)(iii) of E.O. 13846 for knowingly engaging in a significant transaction for the purchase, acquisition, sale, transport, or marketing of petrochemical products from Iran.

ORIENTAL COMMERCE GARDEN (PT. ORIENTAL) is an Indonesia-based company that has exported and sold over USD 3.4M worth of Iranian-origin petrochemical products, including polyethylene, to LAVINYA PLAST.

ORIENTAL is being designated pursuant to section 3(a)(iii) of E.O. 13846 for knowingly engaging in a significant transaction for the purchase, acquisition, sale, transport, or marketing of petrochemical products from Iran.

RAMNIKLAL S GOSALIA AND COMPANY (RAMNIKLAL) is an India-based petrochemical company that imported and purchased Iranian-origin petrochemical products valued at over USD 22M, including methanol and toluene, from multiple companies between January 2024 and January 2025.

RAMNIKLAL is being designated pursuant to section 3(a)(iii) of E.O. 13846 for knowingly engaging in a significant transaction for the purchase, acquisition, sale, transport, or marketing of petrochemical products from Iran.

JUPITER DYE CHEM PRIVATE LIMITED (JUPITER DYE CHEM) is an India-based petrochemical trading company that has imported and purchased Iranian-origin petrochemical products, including toluene, valued at over USD 49M from multiple companies between January 2024 and January 2025

JUPITER DYE CHEM is being designated pursuant to section 3(a)(iii) of E.O. 13846 for knowingly engaging in a significant transaction for the purchase, acquisition, sale, transport, or marketing of petrochemical products from Iran.

GLOBAL INDUSTRIAL CHEMICALS LIMITED (GLOBAL INDUSTRIAL) is an India-based company that has imported and purchased Iranian-origin petrochemical products, including methanol, valued at over USD 51M from multiple companies, between July 2024 and January 2025.

GLOBAL INDUSTRIAL is being designated pursuant to section 3(a)(iii) of E.O. 13846 for knowingly engaging in a significant transaction for the purchase, acquisition, sale, transport, or marketing of petrochemical products from Iran.

PERSISTENT PETROCHEM PRIVATE LIMITED is an India-based company that has imported approximately USD 14 million worth of shipments containing Iranian-origin petrochemicals, such as methanol, from multiple companies, including from BAB AL BARSHA, with shipping dates between October 2024 and December 2024.

PERSISTENT is being designated pursuant to section 3(a)(iii) of E.O. 13846 for knowingly engaging in a significant transaction for the purchase, acquisition, sale, transport, or marketing of petrochemical products from Iran.

BAB AL BARSHA TRADING L.L.C (BAB AL BARSHA) is a United Arab Emirates-based commodities trading company that has exported shipments containing Iranian-origin petrochemicals to PERSISTENT valued at approximately USD 6.4M, with shipping dates between January 2024 and February 2025.

BAB AL BARSHA is being designated pursuant to section 3(a)(iii) of E.O. 13846 for knowingly engaging in a significant transaction for the purchase, acquisition, sale, transport, or marketing of petrochemical products from Iran.

SANCTIONS IMPLICATIONS

As a result of today’s sanctions-related actions, and in accordance with E.O. 13846, all property and interests in property of the designated persons described above that are in the United States or in possession or control of U.S. persons are blocked and must be reported to the Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). Additionally, all entities and individuals that have ownership, either directly or indirectly, 50 percent or more by one or more blocked persons are also blocked.

All transactions by U.S. persons or within (or transiting) the United States that involve any property or interests in property of designated or otherwise blocked persons are prohibited unless authorized by a general or specific license issued by OFAC or exempt. These prohibitions include the making of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services by, to, or for the benefit of any blocked person and the receipt of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services from any such person.

The power and integrity of U.S. government sanctions derive not only from the U.S. government’s ability to designate and add persons to the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN) List, but also from its willingness to remove persons from the SDN List consistent with the law. The ultimate goal of sanctions is not to punish, but to bring about a positive change in behavior.

Petitions for removal from the SDN List may be sent to: OFAC.Reconsideration@treasury.gov. Petitioners may also refer to the Department of State’s Delisting Guidance page.

Tags
Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs Division for Counter Threat Finance and Sanctions Illicit Financing and Sanctions Evasion Iran Office of the Spokesperson Sanctions and Designations


Sanctioning Facilitators of Iran’s Petroleum and Petrochemical Trade
07/30/2025

Sanctioning Facilitators of Iran’s Petroleum and Petrochemical Trade
07/30/2025 03:40 PM EDT

Tammy Bruce, Department Spokesperson
HomeOffice of the SpokespersonPress Releases…Sanctioning Facilitators of Iran’s Petroleum and Petrochemical Trade
hide

Sanctioning Facilitators of Iran’s Petroleum and Petrochemical Trade

Press Statement

July 30, 2025
Today, the United States is taking decisive action to disrupt the Iranian regime’s ability to fund its destabilizing activities, including its nuclear program, support for terrorist groups, and oppression of its own people.

The Department of State is imposing sanctions on 20 entities for their involvement in the trade of Iranian petroleum, petroleum products, or petrochemical products and is identifying 10 vessels as blocked property. These actions target a terminal operator, vessel management companies, and wholesale buyers that have collectively facilitated the export and purchase of millions of barrels of Iranian crude oil, petroleum products, and petrochemical products.

The Department is designating multiple vessel management companies whose tankers have engaged in illicit shipments and other deceptive shipping practices, endangering global trade flows. The Department is also designating a China-based operator of a crude oil and petroleum products terminal that has repeatedly accepted Iranian-origin crude oil, including from U.S.-designated tankers. Additionally, multiple companies in India, the United Arab Emirates, Türkiye, and Indonesia are being designated for their significant sales and purchases of Iranian-origin petrochemical products. As President Trump has said, any country or person who chooses to purchase Iranian oil or petrochemicals exposes themselves to the risk of U.S. sanctions and will not be allowed to conduct business with the United States.

Concurrently, the Department of the Treasury is designating over 115 targets in the vast shipping empire and sanctions evasion network of regime insider Hossein Shamkhani, the son of the Supreme Leader’s political advisor Ali Shamkhani.

The United States will continue to impose maximum pressure on the Iranian regime, in support of National Security Presidential Memorandum 2, until Iran accepts a deal that advances regional peace and stability and in which Iran forgoes all aspirations of a nuclear weapon. Today’s actions underscore our resolve to target those who enable Iran’s illicit oil and petrochemical trade and to cut off the regime’s means of funding its destabilizing activities.

Today’s Department of State action is being taken pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13846, which targets Iran’s petroleum and petrochemical sectors. It marks the eleventh round of sanctions targeting Iranian oil sales since the President issued National Security Presidential Memorandum 2 on February 4, 2025, ordering a campaign of maximum pressure on Iran.

For more information on today’s action, please see the Department of the Treasury press releases.

Tags
Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs Division for Counter Threat Finance and Sanctions Illicit Financing and Sanctions Evasion Iran Office of the Spokesperson Sanctions and Designations


Secretary Rubio’s Call with Romanian Foreign Minister Toiu
07/31/2025

Secretary Rubio’s Call with Romanian Foreign Minister Toiu
07/31/2025 02:20 PM EDT


Office of the Spokesperson
HomeOffice of the SpokespersonPress Releases…Secretary Rubio’s Call with Romanian Foreign Minister Toiu
hide

Secretary Rubio’s Call with Romanian Foreign Minister Toiu


Readout

July 31, 2025

The below is attributable to Spokesperson Tammy Bruce:

Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with Romanian Foreign Minister Oana Toiu today. The leaders reviewed bilateral cooperation on defense, energy, and countering illegal migration. Secretary Rubio reiterated to Minister Toiu our desire for fair and balanced trade and welcomed Romania’s participation in the Electronic Nationality Verification program.

Tags
Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs Office of the Spokesperson Romania The Secretary of State


Swiss Confederation National Day
08/01/2025

Swiss Confederation National Day
08/01/2025 12:01 AM EDT

Marco Rubio, Secretary of State
HomeOffice of the SpokespersonPress Releases…Swiss Confederation National Day
hide

Swiss Confederation National Day

Press Statement

August 1, 2025

I extend my congratulations to the people of Switzerland on your National Day, August 1.

The United States values its strong and steady relationship with Switzerland. Our cooperation spans trade, finance, and security areas where Swiss leadership and reliability continue to make a global impact. Switzerland plays a key role in the international financial system, and our economic ties support innovation, job growth, and investment in both countries. As we work to strengthen global stability and defend our shared interests, we appreciate Switzerland’s constructive engagement on international security and diplomatic challenges. We wish the Swiss people a successful and meaningful celebration and look forward to continued collaboration in the years ahead.

Tags
Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs Office of the Spokesperson The Secretary of State Switzerland

The Week at State: July 25–31, 2025
08/01/2025

View as a webpage / Share



July 25–31

We’re the oldest Cabinet agency, but we’re still only 236 years young. As we celebrate our birthday, the United States is preparing for an even bigger milestone: 250 years of America.

Here’s what happened at State this week. ⤵️🇺🇸 Secretary Rubio attended an event to mark the 250th anniversary of the United States in 2026.
✈️ President Trump traveled to Scotland and met with the president of the European Commission.
🌏 Cambodia and Thailand agreed to a ceasefire deal.
🎉 We marked 236 years of advancing diplomacy and serving the American people.


The Countdown to America’s 250th Anniversary

Secretary Rubio delivers remarks at the America 250 dinner on July 29. (State Dept.)

On July 29, Secretary Rubio spoke at the America 250 dinner on the upcoming celebration of the 250th anniversary of America. As we approach America’s 250th anniversary, we celebrate not just a country but a nation founded on a transformative idea.

“As President Trump has made clear, America 250 will be a celebration of all that has made America great,” said Secretary Rubio in an X post. Events and initiatives across the country will commemorate this historic occasion, bringing Americans together to celebrate 250 years of freedom, democracy, and progress.


President Trump Secures Major U.S.-EU Trade Deal

President Trump secured major commitments from the European Union in a trade deal on July 27. (White House/Daniel Torok)

On July 27, President Donald J. Trump announced a landmark U.S.-EU trade deal in Scotland. The deal focused on tackling the trade deficit, securing market access, and driving billions in U.S. investment.

President Trump secured major commitments from the European Union, delivering lasting benefits for American workers and businesses.

As a result of the deal, the EU will: 💰 Invest $600 billion in the United States
⚡️ Purchase $750 billion in American energy
💸 Open markets to U.S. firms and goods

This landmark deal rebalances the trade relationship between the world’s two largest market economies and opens markets for U.S. exporters. This major trade deal defied expectations and will deliver results.


Peace Secured: Cambodia and Thailand Ceasefire Announced

The United States applauds the ceasefire between Cambodia and Thailand, which was announced in Kuala Lumpur.

“President Trump wants the fighting between Thailand and Cambodia to stop and has a method to end it,” said Spokesperson Tammy Bruce in a Fox News interview.

After President Trump spoke with the leaders of Thailand and Cambodia, an immediate ceasefire was announced. The United States leveraged both nations’ trade relationship with the U.S. to reach the agreement.

“The United States will remain committed to and engaged in this U.S.-Malaysia-organized process to end this conflict”, said Secretary Rubio in a statement.


Celebrating 236 Years of Diplomacy and Service

(State Dept.)



This week, we marked our 236th year of U.S. diplomacy and leadership.

Since its founding in 1789, the Department has worked tirelessly to promote peace, prosperity, and security for the American people.

This milestone honors the generations of diplomats and public servants who shaped U.S. foreign policy and strengthened international partnerships.

While marking this milestone, we launched a quiz on key diplomacy terms. You can test your knowledge and understanding of the language of diplomacy.



News You May Have MissedThe United States sanctioned Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes for serious human rights abuses, including arbitrary detention, denial of fair trial guarantees, and violations of freedom of expression.
The U.S. Department of State increased its reward offer for information leading to the identification or location of the leader of al-Qa’ida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), Sa’ad bin Atef al-Awlaki.
The United States is working with our partners in Venezuela to hold accountable the corrupt, criminal, and illegitimate Maduro regime.
The United States condemned the Hong Kong government’s latest round of bounties on individuals exercising freedom of expression.
Secretary Rubio met with Pakistani Deputy Prime Minister/Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar to discuss enhancing counterterrorism cooperation, including countering ISIS-K.


Note to Our Readers

📩 We welcome feedback at EmailTeam@state.gov

Was this forwarded to you? Subscribe to The Week at State for weekly updates on important work, activities, and news straight from the State Department.


Useful linksTravel advisories and updates for U.S. Citizens
Did you know that you can invite a State Department official to speak at your school, business, or organization? Learn about what we do through the firsthand experience of one of our representatives.

Read More at State.gov

Deputy Secretary Landau’s Meeting with Hungarian Deputy Foreign Minister Magyar
08/01/2025


Deputy Secretary Landau’s Meeting with Hungarian Deputy Foreign Minister Magyar
08/01/2025 02:30 PM EDT


Office of the Spokesperson
HomeOffice of the SpokespersonPress Releases…Deputy Secretary Landau’s Meeting with Hungarian Deputy Foreign Minister Magyar
hide

Deputy Secretary Landau’s Meeting with Hungarian Deputy Foreign Minister Magyar


Readout


August 1, 2025



The below is attributable to Spokesperson Tammy Bruce:

Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau met with Hungarian Deputy Foreign Minister Levente Magyar earlier today to reaffirm the U.S.-Hungary partnership. The meeting centered on expanding commercial ties and deepening strong economic cooperation, particularly expanding opportunities for U.S. business in Hungary.


Tags
Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs Deputy Secretary of State Hungary Office of the Spokesperson


Stay connected with the Department of State:

 

This email was sent to politikimx@gmail.com using GovDelivery Communications Cloud on behalf of: U.S. Department of State · 2201 C Street NW · Washington, DC 20520