U.S. Sanctions 29 Shadow Tankers to Further Pressure Iran and Venzuela

The Trump administration is exerting more pressure on Iran after adding a total of 29 shadow fleet tankers to its sanction list. They asserted that the move is expected to deprive Tehran of petroleum revenue that is being used to fund its military and weapons programs. The exports are also being sent to Venezuela to help maintain its oil production.

The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) asserts that the Iranian regime has increasingly been depending on shadow fleet tankers to export petroleum and petroleum products through deceptive shipping practices. In a further move to rein in Iran, OFAC designated 29 sanction-evading vessels and their management firms, adding to a growing list of vessels that have been sanctioned by the Trump administration as part of a broader “maximum economic pressure” campaign.

Also targeted is Egyptian businessman Hatem Elsaid Farid Ibrahim Sakr, whose companies are said to be facilitating the illicit exports, and who is associated with seven of the 29 shadow fleet vessels. The businessman allegedly owns and operates multiple companies that have been responsible for transporting large quantities of Iranian petroleum products in the Persian Gulf region, often in coordination with Iran’s Ministry of Defense.

“As President Trump has said repeatedly, the United States will not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon,” said John K. Hurley, Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.  “Treasury will continue to deprive the regime of the petroleum revenue it uses to fund its military and weapons programs.”

OFAC highlights that the new designations are part of the Trump administration’s systematic actions against the shadow fleets, which Iran has been relying on to evade sanctions and transport petroleum to end users mostly in Asia. Since taking over in January, the administration has sanctioned more than 180 vessels responsible for shipping Iranian petroleum and petroleum products, in the process driving up costs for Iranian oil exporters and reducing the revenues that Tehran receives for each barrel of oil sold.

Notably, the vessels included in the new sanctions are crude tankers sailing under the flags of Palau, Panama, the Cook Islands, Barbados, and Jamaica.

The Trump administration has also threatened to stop any sanctioned tanker involved in Venezuela’s oil trade. Iran, earlier this year, was sending large ships to Venezuela, which is used as distillates to keep Venezuela’s operations functioning. The distillates are a critical component for Venezuela's production and to meet domestic energy needs due to the poor state of Venezuela’s domestic refineries.