The United States has announced new sanctions on Iranian oil exports which are the first to target Iran’s energy sector since the Washington-backed ceasefire between Iran and Israel came into effect last month according to Al Jazeera.

The sanctions declared on Thursday include Iraqi businessman Salim Ahmed Said and his company based in the United Arab Emirates which the US accused of transporting Iranian oil by mixing it with Iraqi oil.

"Iran's actions have left it devastated. Though it has had every chance to embrace peace, its leaders have elected to pursue extremism," US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated.

"Treasury will persist in going after Tehran's sources of revenue and imposing economic pressure to cut off the regime's access to the financial resources that drive its destabilising activities."

After the ceasefire was declared on June 24, US President Donald Trump said China would be allowed to buy Iranian oil, which indicated that the US might ease sanctions on Iran’s energy trade.

But that proposal was soon withdrawn as Trump later wrote on social media that he "immediately dropped all work on sanction relief" after Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei claimed victory over Israel.

The US president also said he stopped Israel from killing Khamenei and that he had saved him from a "VERY UGLY AND IGNOMINIOUS DEATH".

Israel’s Defence Minister, Israel Katz, said that the country had planned to assassinate Khamenei, but there was "no operational opportunity" to carry it out.

On June 13, Israel carried out air strikes against Iran without direct provocation, killing hundreds of Iranians, including civilians and senior military commanders.

The United States supported Israel in the offensive and carried out strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites. Iran retaliated with missile attacks on Israel and also struck a military base in Qatar that housed US troops.

Trump said the American strikes had "obliterated" Iran’s nuclear facilities. On Wednesday, the Pentagon stated that the US air raids had delayed Iran’s nuclear programme by one to two years. However, the exact location of Iran’s stores of highly enriched uranium remains unclear.

Last month, Iran passed a new law to suspend its cooperation with the UN’s nuclear agency, the International Atomic Energy Agency, accusing it of failing to condemn the US and Israeli strikes. This step has been criticised by the United States and several European countries.

On Thursday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said that Iran is in indirect talks with the US through Oman and Qatar in an attempt to reach a diplomatic solution, as reported by Al Jazeera.

"Diplomacy should not be used or abused as a means to delude or use as a weapon of deception or for a mere type of psychological warfare against their enemies," Baghaei said to Sky News. He also said that Iran feels its diplomatic approach has been "betrayed".

A few hours before the war began last month, Trump had repeated that the US remained committed to diplomacy. In the days before the US attacks, he said he would make a decision within two weeks on whether to join the war to allow time for talks between Iran and European countries, as reported by Al Jazeera.