U.S. Sanctions Network Behind Iranian Oil Shipments To China, Iran Condemns Move

The United States has imposed new sanctions on a global network accused of transporting millions of barrels of Iranian crude oil to China.

This network operates on behalf of Iran’s Armed Forces General Staff (AFGS) and its sanctioned front company, Sepehr Energy Jahan Nama Pars (Sepehr Energy).

The sanctions target multiple entities and individuals from China, India, and the UAE, along with several vessels involved in the oil trade.

According to the U.S. Treasury Department, Iran earns billions of dollars annually from oil sales, which it uses to support regional groups such as Hamas, Hizballah and the Houthis.

The AFGS is said to manage these sales through foreign-based brokers and front companies. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated that Iran’s government uses oil revenues to develop its nuclear program, produce ballistic missiles and drones, and finance regional terrorist proxy groups.

He said that the U.S. would aggressively target any financial sources that Iran uses to fund these activities. The sanctions were enforced under Executive Orders 13224 and 13902, which allow the U.S. Treasury to impose restrictions on key sectors of Iran’s economy.

The Treasury has already designated Sepehr Energy on November 29, 2023, for materially supporting Iran’s Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics, which was itself sanctioned in 2019.

On October 11, 2024, the Treasury Secretary identified Iran’s petroleum and petrochemical sectors as subject to sanctions.

Sepehr Energy and its affiliates operate under AFGS and use fraudulent practices to hide the Iranian origin of crude oil. The sanctioned Comoros-flagged oil tanker ANTHEA, now renamed SIRI, is currently off Singapore carrying millions of barrels of Iranian crude oil.

The vessel is operating under the false name NEW PRIME to avoid detection.

Iranian national Arash Lavian, the ship’s master, has been accused of falsifying shipping documents and hiding the ship’s real identity. He is now sanctioned for materially supporting Sepehr Energy. The vessel has also been added to the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List.

Marshal Ship Management Private Ltd, an India-based company with offices in the UAE and the Philippines, provided crew members for the SIRI and other Sepehr Energy-linked vessels, including BOREAS, ELSA, and HEBE.

Crew members helped falsify shipping documents. Marshal Ship Management and its director, Indian national Ryan Xavier Aranha, have been sanctioned for supporting Sepehr Energy’s illegal operations.

Sanctioned Sepehr Energy official Elyas Niroomand Toomaj continues to manage illegal oil shipments. In December 2024, Sepehr Energy sent nearly 2 million barrels of Iranian heavy crude oil (worth over $100 million) to China abroad the Cameroon-flagged OXIS, owned by Seychelles-based Miletus Line Ltd.

Similarly, the Panama-flagged GIOIOSA, owned by Hong Kong-based Gozoso Group, transported over 700,000 barrels of Iranian oil to China. Hong Kong-based Ocean Dolphin Ship Management managed the GIOIOSA, while Kazakhstan-based Umbra Navi Ship Management Corp handled the OXIS.

Miletus Line, Gozoso Group, Ocean Dolphin Ship Management, and Umbra Navi have now been sanctioned for supporting Sepehr Energy. The OXIS and GIOIOSA have been identified as blocked properties.

AFGS Brigadier General Jamshid Eshaghi oversees Sepehr Energy’s operations and previously coordinated oil sales to China with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Sepehr Energy owns several Iran-based subsidiaries involved in oil exports, including Sepehr Energy Hamta Pars, Sepehr Energy Paya Gostar Jahan and Sepehr Energy Jahan Nama Taban.

These companies and their officials- Farbod Mohseni Ahari, Farshad Ghazi, and Mohammad Ali Riazi Kolahdozmahaleh- have also been sanctioned.

Two more tankers have been identified for carrying Iranian oil to China: Panama-flagged CH BILLION and Hong-Kong-flagged STAR FOREST.

Both vessels were involved in ship-to-ship transfers of Iranian crude oil, including a 600,000-barrel transfer in August 2024. Over the years, STAR FOREST has shipped over $100 million worth of oil for the IRGC.

Hong Kong-based Young Folks International Trading Co. Ltd, which owns and operates CH BILLION, and PRC-based Lucky Ocean Shipping Ltd, which manages STAR FOREST, have been sanctioned for operating in Iran’s petroleum sector.

The ships are now considered blocked property.

On February 7, Iran strongly criticised the new sanctions imposed by the U.S. government under President Donald Trump’s administration. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei called it “illegitimate, illegal and violative.”

“The decision of the new U.S government to exert pressure on the Iranian nation by preventing Iran’s legal trade with its economic partners is an unjustified and unlawful measure,” Baqaei said.

The U.S Treasury announced these sanctions on February 6, making it the first since Trump took over office in his second term. President Trump recently reinstated his “maximum pressure” policy to stop Iran’s nuclear program.

“With me, it’s very simple: Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said. He withdrew from the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action during his first term. Despite multiple rounds of indirect negotiations under the Biden administration, talks collapsed after the outbreak of war in Gaza in October 2023.

References: Reuters, FirstPost

Source: Maritime Shipping News