U.S. Sanctions Four Shipping Companies for Supporting Hezbollah

 

The U.S. Treasury has imposed new sanctions on a network of traders and shipping companies that sell and move Iranian petroleum for the benefit of Hezbollah, the Lebanese terrorist group that routinely attacks northern Israel with rocket fire. 

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force routinely uses its access to Iranian oil to finance its proxy forces in Syria, Lebanon and Yemen. Traders associated with these proxy groups sell the oil and transfer the proceeds for the benefit of the IRGC-QF and their own organizations. 

According to Treasury's Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC), the China-based shipping company Star Ocean Shipmanage Ltd. [sic] is the operator of three tankers that facilitate this illicit trade. The vessels Eternal Success, Eternal 8 and Eternal Peace have used deceptive practices like AIS manipulation and ship-to-ship transfers to disguise their movements, Treasury said, and have carried out these sanctions-busting voyages as recently as July. Star Ocean has been sanctioned for violating U.S. sanctions on the IRGC-QF, and the three vessels have been identified and listed as ships in which Star Ocean has an interest. 

OFAC also named a Marshall Islands-based shipowning entity, Dragon Road Ltd. This firm's tanker, Serene I, is accused of handling Quds Force-owned products on behalf of the already-sanctioned, Hezbollah-linked trader Concepto Screen SAL Offshore. Hong Kong-based Tai Feng Hai Shipping Ltd. faces identical charges for picking up Concepto's oil in Iran and delivering it to mainland China with the tanker Feng Tai. 

The Treasury also sanctioned a family-owned shipping company for transporting oil products from Iran to Syria, where the IRGC supports the government of dictator Bashar al-Assad. The Mallah shipping family member Luay al-Mallah and four family-held vessels - Confidence P, Nova, Rival and Tiyara - stand accused of facilitating this illicit trade lane as recently as 2021. Luay's brother Abdul Jalil Mallah has already been sanctioned. 

“Iran continues to rely heavily on the illicit sale of oil and liquid petroleum gas by the IRGC-QF and Lebanese Hizballah to fund its terrorist proxies and destabilizing activities,” said Acting Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Bradley T. Smith. “Treasury remains committed to disrupting the networks of shippers, brokers, and buyers that facilitate these schemes.”