US sanctions another vessel allegedly linked to Houthis

Washington has added another vessel to its sanctions list for allegedly funding Iran-backed Houthi militia.

PHOTO: The LADY SOFIA. FleetMon

The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has sanctioned a Marshall Islands-registered shipping company Vishnu Inc., and its chemical tanker – the LADY SOFIA, involved in “illicit” shipment of commodities to China.

The vessel has been shipping commodities to China on behalf of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF) that allegedly backs Houthi militia’s financial facilitator Sa’id al-Jamal in the ongoing insurgency in the Red Sea, OFAC claimed.

LADY SOFIA conducted a ship-to-ship (s-t-s) transfer with another vessel MEHLE, which the OFAC sanctioned on 31 January, based on similar offenses.

The two vessels engaged in “spoofing” – an automatic identification system (AIS) manipulation that changes the vessel’s true location, the OFAC said. The MEHLE renamed itself the “AMOR,” and changed its location to the South China Sea, OFAC claimed. However, the vessel allegedly offloaded its illicit cargo to the LADY SOFIA near Singapore, OFAC said.

“The LADY SOFIA is currently traveling to the PRC [People’s Republic of China], carrying the Iranian commodities it received from the MEHLE on behalf of Sa’id al-Jamal,” OFAC added.

“We remain committed to disrupting the IRGC-QF and the Houthis’ attempts to evade U.S. sanctions and fund additional terrorist attacks,” Brian E. Nelson, undersecretary of the US Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence said.

By Aparupa Mazumder 

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