OFAC Sanctions Companies Tied to Iranian Oil, Shadow Banking
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned more than 20 entities in Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey for helping to sell Iranian oil in support of the country's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force. The designations target some companies that OFAC said have bought hundreds of millions of dollars of Iranian oil combined.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
The agency said Turkey-based Pulcular Enerji Sanayi ve Ticaret Anonim Sirketi bought multiple shipments of Iranian oil worth hundreds of millions of dollars in 2024 alone. The company paid for the oil using wire transfers handled by Hong Kong-based front companies, including Amito Trading Ltd. and Peakway Global Ltd.
IRGC-QF officials also used Hong Kong-based JTU Energy Ltd., a cover company for the U.S.-sanctioned Iranian Gardeshghari Bank, to receive millions of dollars in payments for a shipment of liquefied petroleum gas to Hezbollah-controlled company Talaqi Group and Pakistan-based Alliance Energy, OFAC said. Several IRGC officials had "direct" involvement in those sales, including by using Hong Kong-based Future Resource Trading Ltd. to sell tens of millions of dollars in petrochemicals and receive tens of millions of dollars from Iranian oil sales through Hong Kong-based Moon Imp & Exp Co. Ltd.
OFAC designated a range of other companies for helping to facilitate funds transfers for the IRGC and for being part of Iran's "shadow banking system," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said. “Treasury remains focused on disrupting this shadowy infrastructure that allows Iran to threaten the United States and our allies in the region.”