US identifies more vessels allegedly shipping sanctioned Iranian oil

Washington has sanctioned entities and vessels for shipping illicit Iranian crude oil and LPG cargoes to Syria and East Asia on behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF) and the Lebanon-based Hezbollah armed group.

PHOTO: Flags of the US and Iran. Getty Images

The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has sanctioned entities and vessels that have facilitated dozens of crude oil and LPG shipments to the government of Syria by illicit means and channelled the profits to generate revenue for the Hezbollah militants.

“Iran continues to rely heavily on the illicit sale of oil and liquid petroleum gas by the IRGC-QF and Lebanese Hizballah to fund its terrorist proxies and destabilizing activities,” acting undersecretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Bradley T. Smith remarked.

The US department has sanctioned three Panama-flagged vessels, ETERNAL SUCCESS, ETERNAL 8, and ETERNAL PEACE, for carrying out illicit trade activities on behalf of the IRGC-QF, as recently as July 2024, OFAC said. The three ships are operated by Marshall Islands-registered and China-based shipping company Star Ocean Shipmanage.

These vessels have allegedly manipulated its Automatic Identification System (AIS), “to disguise its movements while sailing toward East Asia, where it transferred its cargo to another tanker via a ship-to-ship transfer,” OFAC added.

OFAC also sanctioned the Panama-flagged SERENE I and FENG TAI, for shipping IRGC-QF-affiliated products to China on behalf of the Hezbollah armed group.

Besides, the US treasury department has also sanctioned four more vessels for facilitating illicit trade between Syria and Iran, on behalf of the IRGC-QF and its regional proxies, OFAC said.

By Aparupa Mazumder

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