US Sanctions Fleet Of Tankers In $300 Million Iranian Oil Smuggling Network

The U.S. Department of the Treasury has sanctioned a vast oil smuggling network accused of disguising Iranian oil as Iraqi oil to avoid sanctions and generate huge profits for Tehran.

The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced action against Waleed Khaled Hameed al-Samarra’i, a United Arab Emirates–based businessman holding dual citizenship in Iraq and St. Kitts & Nevis.

According to Treasury findings, his network has secretly mixed Iranian oil with Iraqi oil and sold it abroad as if it were only of Iraqi origin. The scheme has reportedly generated hundreds of millions of dollars, with estimates of about $300 million a year for Iran and al-Samarra’i’s partners.

Officials said al-Samarra’i depends on two companies in the UAE to run his operations. Babylon Navigation DMCC (Babylon) manages the logistics and shipping, while Galaxy Oil FZ LLC (Galaxy Oil) acts as the main trader selling the blended oil on the global market.

The network also uses a fleet of nine Liberia-flagged tankers operated by Babylon. These include the ADENA, ALEXANDRA, BELLAGIO, BIANCA, CAMILLA, DELFINA, LILIANA, PAOLA and ROBERTA. The vessels were allegedly involved in ship-to-ship transfers in Iraqi ports and in the Arabian Gulf to mix Iranian and Iraqi oil before selling it abroad.

Al-Samarra’i used five Marshall Islands-based shell companies- Keely Shiptrade, Odiar Management, Panarea Marine, Tryfo Navigation, and Topsail Shipholding- to hide vessel ownership. Treasury said these firms masked his control and made the smuggling network harder to trace.

To avoid detection, the vessels used multiple deceptive methods, including ship-to-ship transfers with vessels already sanctioned and linked to Iran’s shadow fleet, nighttime transfers at sea, switching off or manipulating the Automated Identification System (AIS), and creating suspicious gaps in their location reporting.

Iran’s shadow fleet, according to officials, includes both Iranian and foreign-owned vessels used to secretly move sanctioned oil.

Reference: US Department of Treasury

Source: Maritime Shipping News