Washington sanctions more vessels for shipping oil for the Houthis

The Biden administration has sanctioned 26 companies and several vessels for facilitating illicit Iranian oil transport to Syria and China on behalf of the Iran-aligned Houthis.

PHOTO: A crude oil tanker. Getty Images

The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has sanctioned the companies and vessels that have facilitated the transport of Iranian crude oil on behalf of Al-Qatirji Company, a Syrian conglomerate responsible for generating revenue for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF).

The Al-Qatirji Company has become one of Iran’s “main financial channels,” generating revenue, “much of which is laundered through major cities such as Istanbul and Beirut,” OFAC claimed. “Some of the oil proceeds are ultimately sent to the Houthis, who receive millions of dollars per month from the Al-Qatirji Company,” it added.

The US treasury department has sanctioned 13 vessels, including Guyana-flagged

BARON, CHLOE, RAMONA I, and the Iran-flagged STAR 5. The Al-Qatirji Company has coordinated Iranian oil shipments “worth tens of millions of dollars” using the BARON and STAR 5.

The BARON and STAR 5 are managed and owned by Pearl Shipping & Trading in Lebanon and Moshtaq Tejarat Sanat Co JSC in Iran, respectively.

The latest US sanctions list includes more vessels and companies for conducting these oil shipments, such as India-based Salina Ship Management, which manages and operates the Barbados-flagged LELIA, ELINE, and Panama-flagged CELINE, and Panama-based Bluespectrum Shipping which manages the Palau-flagged vessel JOEL.

“Iran is increasingly relying on key business partners like the Al-Qatirji Company to fund its destabilizing activities and web of terrorist proxies across the region,” acting under secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Bradley T. Smith remarked.

By Aparupa Mazumder

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