US to block every dollar from Iran’s shadow oil fleet — top Ukrainian official

Every dollar generated by Iran’s shadow oil fleet or smuggling operations will be blocked, Ukrainian Presidential Office head Andriy Yermak said, after the US Treasury imposed full blocking sanctions on a network of companies and vessels accused of disguising Iranian oil as Iraqi. 

According to Yermak's post on his Telegram channel, the scheme was orchestrated by an Iraqi-Chinese businessman residing in the UAE, Caliber.Az reports.

“This network generates hundreds of millions of dollars annually and works directly in the interests of a state sponsor of terrorism. Now, seven companies and nine tankers that participated in the scheme are under US sanctions,” Yermak wrote.

He stressed that the new restrictions send a clear message: any attempts to assist Iran or Russia in circumventing sanctions are doomed to fail.

“Every dollar earned from the shadow fleet or smuggling will be blocked,” Yermak concluded, adding that a number of proposals from the Ukrainian sanctions group were taken into account when the restrictions were introduced.

For the record, the Treasury said it designated the businessman and Babylon Navigation DMCC, one of two UAE-based companies he runs that manage the network's operations, and several vessels for being owned or having worked directly or indirectly on behalf of Babylon.

The Department also identified several Liberia-flagged tankers including the Adena, Liliana and Camilla, as property in which Babylon has an interest. The department said the tankers helped the network blend Iranian and Iraqi oil at sea, via ship-to-ship transfers in the Arabian Gulf, and in Iraqi ports.

Treasury also designated several Marshall Islands-based companies, including Tryfo Navigation, Keely Shiptrade Limited, Odiar Management S.A., Panarea Marine S.A. and Topsail Shipholding Inc, that it said served as registered owners of the vessels to likely obfuscate the extent of the businessman's ownership over them.

By Khagan Isayev