Washington increases pressure on Iran with fresh sanctions

The US government has sanctioned 29 shadow fleet vessels and their respective management companies that have transferred Iranian petroleum products.

IMAGE: Getty Images

The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned them for their alleged involvement in transporting “hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of Iranian petroleum products.”

The latest targets include vessels used to transport Iranian crude oil and a variety of Iranian petroleum products, including fuel oil, bitumen, naphtha and condensate. 

The US treasury department has targeted Palau-flagged NEBULA DRIFT and AETHER SAIL, and the Panama-flagged TIDAL RHYTHM and VOYAGER HAVEN – all managed and operated by the UAE-based Phoenix Ship Management – for transporting “hundreds of thousands of barrels of Iranian petroleum products in 2025, including condensate, bitumen, and naphtha.” 

Another target, the Palau-flagged ARIHANT - owned and operated by Panama-based Arihant Shipping - has transported Iranian fuel oil and bitumen within the Persian Gulf earlier this year, the US treasury department further claimed.

The US administration has sanctioned twenty-four more vessels, along with their managers for conducting similar fraudulent oil trades.

Since January 2025, the Donald Trump-led US administration has sanctioned more than 180 vessels responsible for shipping Iranian petroleum and petroleum products, OFAC said.

“OFAC is taking systematic actions against the shadow fleet that Iran relies on to evade sanctions and transport petroleum to end users in Asia,” it added.

OFAC alleges that these vessels engage in other obfuscation techniques to hide their activities, like ship-to-ship (STS) transfers after daylight hours, Automated Identification System (AIS) spoofing, and conspicuous gaps in AIS location reporting.

By assembling a shadow fleet of poorly maintained vessels to circumvent sanctions meant to restrict the movement of Iranian crude oil, Tehran has effectively generated thousands of dollars in revenue to support regional armed groups, including the Yemen-based Houthis and the Lebanon-based Hezbollah, OFAC said earlier.

The move reinforces Washington’s commitment to tightening sanctions on Iran as it strives to bring the OPEC member’s oil exports down to zero.

By Aparupa Mazumder

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