The US Treasury announced the decision on the same day that the United States military resumed strikes on Iran, saying the action was intended to punish Tehran for attacking three commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz. The development comes only weeks after Washington and Tehran announced an MoU to halt hostilities following their months-long conflict.

“As President Trump and the administration have repeatedly affirmed, the MoU in effect with Iran is entirely performance-based. Iran will only reap benefits if they exhibit good behavior,” a US official was quoted as saying while announcing the revocation of the general license. The waiver had been granted in late June and was originally scheduled to remain in force for 60 days until August 21.

Earlier in the day, US Central Command condemned Iran’s actions as “unwarranted” and “dangerous”, calling them a “clear violation of the ceasefire”.

“US Central Command forces have begun launching a series of powerful strikes against Iran to impose heavy costs for targeting and attacking commercial shipping crewed by innocent civilians in an international waterway. The US strikes are in response to Iranian attacks on three commercial vessels that were transiting the Strait of Hormuz. Iran’s demonstrated aggression was unwarranted, dangerous, and a clear violation of the ceasefire,” the command said in a post on X.

One of the vessels targeted by Iran was the Qatari ship Al-Rekayyat, which was reportedly bound for India carrying energy shipments.

The general license, which had been expected to remain in effect until August 21 before its revocation, was seen as particularly beneficial for countries such as India, which maintained a significant energy trade with Iran before U.S. sanctions were imposed.

“Iranian crude made up about 10.5% of India’s total crude oil imports in 2018. And historically, Iranian crude sellers have given a longer credit period of 60 to 90 days as against 30 by other crude producers. Also, it is obviously geographically more proximate than a country like Venezuela. So Indian refiners would benefit because of these reasons. Iranian energy is well suited for purchases by India,” Prashant Vashisht, senior vice president at ICRA, a credit ratings agency, had told HT when the general license was announced.

“Crude oil is in short supply. Around 10-11 million barrels of oil a day were stuck in the Strait of Hormuz. As per the International Energy Agency, 4 million barrels per day has been made up by strategic reserves being allowed to flow into the market. I think India would be buying a lot of crude wherever it can get it,” he had added.

In March this year, the Trump administration issued two 30-day licenses permitting the purchase of previously sanctioned Russian and Iranian energy. The US Treasury introduced the waivers to ease rising energy prices after the United States and Israel carried out military strikes on Iran in late February. However, Washington did not extend the license permitting purchases of Iranian energy when it expired in April.