US Targets Oil Smuggling Network Tied to Iran

The United States has sanctioned a network accused of smuggling Iranian oil and funneling hundreds of millions of dollars to Tehran.

The announcement came on Tuesday, September 2, from the United States Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). 

One individual, seven companies, and nine oil tankers were designated.

According to the statement from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), at the center of the network is Waleed Khaled Hamid al-Samurai, an Iraqi-Kittitian businessman based in the United Arab Emirates. 

According to Washington, he oversees shipping and trading firms that generate around $300 million a year for both the Islamic Republic and himself by blending Iranian oil with Iraqi crude, marketing it as exclusively Iraqi, and moving it quietly through regional waters.

The Treasury Department said the tankers carried out ship-to-ship transfers in the Persian Gulf and at Iraqi ports, often under the cover of night. 

To avoid detection, they falsified their Automatic Identification System (AIS) and used front companies registered in the Marshall Islands.

The nine sanctioned tankers were named as the ADENA, LILIANA, CAMILLA, DELFINA, BIANCA, ROBERTA, ALEXANDRA, BELLAGIO, and PAOLA.

Two firms based in the UAE, Babylon Navigation DMCC and Galaxy Oil FZ LLC, were identified as key players. Five additional shell companies in the Marshall Islands were also blacklisted.

“By targeting Iran’s oil revenue stream, we will further degrade the regime’s ability to carry out attacks against the United States and its allies,” US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement. 

"We remain committed to an oil supply free from Iran and will continue our efforts to disrupt Tehran's attempts to evade U.S. sanctions," he added.

The Treasury Department emphasized that all property and interests in property of the designated individuals and entities that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons are blocked and must be reported to OFAC. 

Furthermore, any dealings by U.S. persons with the sanctioned entities are prohibited. Foreign financial institutions that knowingly facilitate significant transactions for the network risk exposure to secondary sanctions.

The Treasury described the move as part of Washington’s ongoing “maximum pressure” campaign against the Islamic Republic.