WASHINGTON (Agencies): The United States imposed sanctions on Thursday on Iran’s Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad and some Hong Kong-flagged vessels that are part of a shadow fleet that helps disguise Iranian oil shipments, the Treasury Department said.
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,” Treasury said in a statement.
Treasury also designated owners or operators of vessels that have delivered Iranian oil to China or lifted it from storage there, it said. Those were in multiple jurisdictions, including India and China, it said.
Iran’s military relies on a vast shadow fleet of ships to disguise shipments worth billions to China.
Thursday’s designated vessels 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, Treasury said.
The US Department of State is designating three entities and three vessels as blocked property, it said.
“The Iranian regime and its military are stealing the nation’s oil wealth with the help of Mohsen Paknejad, the head of Iran’s Oil Ministry,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement.
“Today’s action advances President (Donald) Trump’s policy of maximum pressure on the Iranian regime, which is designed to end Iran’s nuclear threat, curtail its ballistic missile program, and stop it from supporting or rebuilding its terrorist proxy groups, including by driving Iran’s oil exports to zero – especially oil exports to China,” he said.
“We will continue to disrupt illicit funding to curb malign activities, limit the financial resources available to corrupt officials, and use all the tools at our disposal to hold the regime accountable.”
