Washington increases pressure on Iranian exports
The US government has sanctioned over 50 individuals, entities and vessels that facilitate sales and shipments of Iranian oil and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).
IMAGE: Flags of the US and Iran. Getty Images
The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has imposed sanctions on a network moving “hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of Iranian LPG,” as well as nearly two dozen shadow fleet vessels, a Chinese crude oil terminal, and an independent refinery.
This is the fourth round of sanctions where the Trump administration targets Chinese refineries that continue to purchase Iranian oil, OFAC said.
The US treasury department has imposed sanctions on two UAE-based firms – Markan White and Slogal Energy – for enabling sales and shipments of Iranian LPG to Sri Lanka.
It has targeted the Palau-flagged Max Star, the Panama-flagged Gas Dior and seven other vessels for delivering Iranian LPG. Earlier this year, the Gas Dior delivered over 17,000 mt of Iranian LPG to Bangladesh, OFAC said.
Additionally, OFAC has sanctioned China-based Shandong Jincheng for receiving more than a dozen shipments of Iranian crude oil worth hundreds of millions of dollars delivered by shadow fleet vessels, including the Luna Prime and the Carina.
OFAC alleges that these vessels engage in other obfuscation techniques to hide their activities, like unsafe ship-to-ship (STS) transfers after daylight hours, Automated Identification System (AIS) spoofing, and conspicuous gaps in AIS location reporting.
Shandong Jincheng has also purchased Iranian oil through the previously sanctioned Naftiran Intertrade Company, the marketing arm of Iran’s sanctioned National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC).
Washington has imposed sanctions on other Chinese firms for accommodating more than a dozen shadow fleet vessels. These include a company that operates the Rizhao Shihua Crude Oil Terminal at Lanshan Port. Another Chinese shipping agent, Qingdao Hexin, was accused of offloading nearly two million bbls of Iranian crude at the Haiye Terminal in Qingdao Port on behalf of NIOC.
“Iranian exporters often transfer cargoes between shadow fleet vessels - at times with the aid of tugboats - in the Persian Gulf and in waters off the coast of Singapore and Malaysia in order to disguise the origin of their cargoes,” OFAC said.
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.
The OFAC has sanctioned 14 more shadow fleet vessels for conducting similar operations. The move reinforces the Donald Trump-led US administration’s commitment to tightening sanctions on Iran as it strives to bring the OPEC member’s oil exports down to zero.
The price of front-month ICE Brent found some support after the “US on Thursday announced its 11th Iran sanctions package of 2025,” Vanda Insights founder Vandana Hari remarked.
By Aparupa Mazumder
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