US issues further Iran sanctions

The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has imposed sanctions on more than 30 persons and vessels in multiple jurisdictions for their role in brokering the sale and transportation of Iranian petroleum-related products, the latest in a series of measures the new Donald Trump administration is taking in its so-called maximum pressure campaign against the Middle East nation. 

Among those sanctioned yesterday are oil brokers in the United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong, tanker operators and mangers in India and China, the head of Iran’s National Iranian Oil Company, and the Iranian Oil Terminals Company, as well as 13 vessels.

“Iran continues to rely on a shadowy network of vessels, shippers, and brokers to facilitate its oil sales and fund its destabilising activities,” said secretary of the treasury Scott Bessent. “The United States will use all our available tools to target all aspects of Iran’s oil supply chain, and anyone who deals in Iranian oil exposes themselves to significant sanctions risk.”

Yesterday’s action is the second round of sanctions targeting Iranian oil sales since Trump returned to power last month. 

“Individuals and entities in or adjacent to the shipping industry should ensure that their sanctions and export control policies and procedures are robust and ready to react and adapt to the invigorated enforcement environment,” law firm Seward & Kissel advised in a recent Iran advisory to clients.

Increased sanctions on tankers used to move Iranian oil should boost demand for compliant VLCCs, possibly at the same time as VLCCs return to moving Atlantic basin crude into India to replace lost Russian barrels, analysts at broker Braemar suggested. This could ease competition for suezmax cargoes, Braemar said, thereby softening the blow of any potential loss of long-haul Russian business.