The United States has imposed sanctions on Iran’s oil minister, Mohsen Paknejad, and several Hong Kong-flagged vessels that are part of a shadow fleet used to disguise Iranian oil shipments.
The U.S. Treasury Department disclosed this in a statement on Thursday.
The statement said that Paknejad oversees the export of tens of billions of dollars’ worth of Iranian oil and has allocated billions of dollars’ worth of oil to Iran’s armed forces for export.
According to the statement, the Treasury also designated the owners or operators of vessels that have delivered Iranian oil to China or lifted it from storage there, adding that these entities are located in multiple jurisdictions, including India and China.
It was gathered that Iran’s military relies on a vast shadow fleet of ships to disguise shipments worth billions to China.
The designated vessels on Thursday include the Hong Kong-flagged Peace Hill and its owner, Hong Kong Heshun Transportation Trading Limited, the Iran-flagged Polaris 1, the Seychelles-registered Fallon Shipping Company Ltd, and the Liberia-registered Itaugua Services Inc.
The U.S. Department of State is reportedly designating three entities and three vessels as blocked property.
US imposes sanctions on Iranian oil minister, shadow fleet
