By Timothy Gardner and Brendan O’Brien
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. imposed sanctions on Thursday against a network that smuggles Iranian oil disguised as Iraqi oil, and on a Hezbollah-controlled financial institution, the Treasury Department said.
A network of companies run by Iraqi-British national Salim Ahmed Said has been buying and shipping billions of dollars worth of Iranian oil disguised as, or blended with, Iraqi oil since at least 2020, the department said.
“Treasury will continue to target Tehran’s revenue sources and intensify economic pressure to disrupt the regime’s access to the financial resources that fuel its destabilizing activities,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.
The U.S. has imposed waves of sanctions on Iran’s oil exports over its nuclear program and funding of militant groups across the Middle East.
Reuters reported late last year that a fuel oil smuggling network that generates at least $1 billion a year for Iran and its proxies has flourished in Iraq since 2022.
Thursday’s sanctions came after the U.S. carried out strikes on June 22 on three Iranian nuclear sites, including its most deeply buried enrichment plant Fordow. The Pentagon said on Wednesday the strikes had degraded Iran’s nuclear program by up to two years, despite a far more cautious initial assessment that had leaked to the public.
The U.S. and Iran are expected to hold talks about its nuclear program next week in Oslo, Axios reported.
Said’s companies and vessels blend Iranian oil with Iraqi oil, which is then sold to Western buyers via Iraq or the United Arab Emirates as purely Iraqi oil using forged documentation to avoid sanctions, Treasury said.
Said controls UAE-based company VS Tankers though he avoids formal association with it, Treasury said. Formerly known as Al-Iraqia Shipping Services & Oil Trading (AISSOT), VS Tankers has smuggled oil for the benefit of the Iranian government and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which is designated by Washington as a terrorist organization, it said.
The sanctions block U.S. assets of those designated and prevent Americans from doing business with them.
VS Tankers did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Iran’s mission in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The U.S. also sanctioned several vessels that are accused of engaging in the covert delivery of Iranian oil, intensifying pressure on Iran’s “shadow fleet,” it said.
The Treasury Department also issued sanctions against several senior officials and one entity associated with the Hezbollah-controlled financial institution Al-Qard Al-Hassan.
The officials, the department said, conducted millions of dollars in transactions that ultimately benefited, but obscured, Hezbollah.
(Reporting by Timothy Gardner and Brendan O’Brien; Editing by Doina Chiacu and Marguerita Choy)
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