The U.S. Treasury Department on Tuesday rolled out new sanctions against a shipping network accused of smuggling Iranian crude under the cover of Iraqi origin, part of Washington’s broader effort to choke off Tehran’s oil revenues.
The network is led by a businessman holding Iraqi and St. Kitts & Nevis citizenship and based in the United Arab Emirates. According to Treasury, his group covertly blended Iranian oil with Iraqi barrels and sold it abroad as if it were entirely of Iraqi origin—an effort to skirt restrictions that have long targeted Iranian crude exports.
Treasury named the businessman himself, Babylon Navigation DMCC, and a cluster of affiliated firms and tankers. Several Liberia-flagged ships—including the Adena, Liliana, and Camilla—were identified as assets tied to Babylon, accused of carrying out ship-to-ship transfers in the Arabian Gulf and operating in Iraqi ports to disguise Iranian volumes.
The department also blacklisted multiple Marshall Islands-registered entities—Tryfo Navigation, Keely Shiptrade Limited, Odiar Management, Panarea Marine, and Topsail Shipholding—that Treasury said acted as nominal owners to obscure the network’s reach.
“By targeting Iran’s oil revenue stream, Treasury will further degrade the regime’s ability to carry out attacks against the United States and its allies,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement. He added that Washington remained committed to preventing Iranian crude from flowing into global markets through sanctions evasion schemes.
The move comes with nuclear talks at a standstill. Negotiations were paused after June’s 12-day war, and a senior Iranian official said this week the path to renewed dialogue was still open, but that U.S. demands over missile curbs remained a sticking point.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not respond to a request for comment.
The action highlights Washington’s focus on shutting down increasingly elaborate efforts to disguise Iranian crude flows, even as Tehran leans on ship-to-ship transfers and offshore registries to keep exports moving.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
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