Super Oil Tanker (Credit: Wikipedia Commons)
By Gary Raynaldo DIPLOMATIC TIMES
The U.S. Biden administration has sanctioned an international network of individuals and entities utilizing a web of Gulf-based front companies to facilitate delivery and sale of hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of Iranian oil. The entities, located in Iran, Vietnam, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Hong Kong, have supported Iranian energy trade generating millions of dollars’ worth of illicit revenue, according to the U.S. Department of State. Additionally, the State Department is designating three Iran-based entities, Zagros Tarabaran-E Arya, Persian Gulf Star Oil Company, and East Ocean Rashin Shipping Co. Ltd., which have engaged in the sale and/or shipment of Iranian petroleum products. Zagros Tarabaran-E Arya is a shipper of Iranian petroleum products, while Persian Gulf Star Oil Company is the largest producer of gas condensate in Iran, and as such, has directly engaged in the production of Iranian petroleum products, according to Department of State. East Ocean Rashin Shipping Co. Ltd. is a port agent and freight forwarder of Iranian petroleum and petrochemical products. These actions are being taken pursuant to Executive Order 13846. The Department of State is designating one Vietnam-based entity, Truong Phat Loc Shipping Trading JSC, for engaging in the shipment of petroleum products from Iran. Truong Phat Loc Shipping Trading JSC served as the commercial and technical manager for a vessel that transported Iranian petroleum products. The State Department is also designating one Singapore-based entity, Everwin Ship Management Pte. Ltd., which has engaged in the transport of Iranian petroleum products. Everwin Ship Management Pte. Ltd. served as the technical manager for a vessel that transported Iranian petroleum products.
Entities listed by the Department of State:
Truong Phat Loc Shipping Trading JSC (Vietnam); Everwin Ship Management Pte. Ltd. (Singapore); Zagros Tarabaran-E Arya (Iran); Persian Gulf Star Oil Company (Iran); and East Ocean Rashin Shipping Co. Ltd. (Iran).
Entities listed by OFAC:
Jam Petrochemical Company (Iran); Edgar Commercial Solutions FZE (UAE); Ali Almutawa Petroleum and Petrochemical Trading L.L.C (UAE); Petrogat FZE (UAE); Emerald Global FZE (UAE); Petrokick LLC (UAE); Lustro Industry Limited (Hong Kong); and Oligei International Trading Co. Limited (Hong Kong).
People listed by OFAC:
Morteza Rajabieslami and Mahdieh Sanchuli.
“While the United States is committed to achieving an agreement with Iran that seeks a mutual return to compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, we will continue to use all our authorities to enforce sanctions on the sale of Iranian petroleum and petrochemicals,”
-said Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson
IRANIAN OIL SANCTIONS EVADERS
Iran-based Jam Petrochemical Company (JPC) has exported hundreds of thousands of metric tons of petrochemical products, worth hundreds of millions of dollars, to companies throughout East Asia, according to the Treasury Department.
Many of these products were sold to Iran-based Iran Petrochemical Commercial Company (PCC) for onward shipment to the People’s Republic of China (PRC). JPC has aided PCC in facilitating the use of front bank accounts and companies in order to obfuscate the shipment and sale of Iranian origin petrochemicals, the Treasury Department said. By these means, in mid to late 2021, JPC sold hundreds of thousands of metric tons of petrochemicals worth millions of dollars to PCC with the intent to deliver the goods to the PRC and the Philippines.
Edgar Commercial Solutions FZE has purchased and exported hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of petrochemical products from numerous sanctioned Iranian companies, including Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industry Commercial Company (PGPICC) and Arya Sasol Polymer Company, for onward shipment to the PRC. Edgar Commercial Solutions FZE used Hong Kong-based front company Lustro Industry Limited to disguise its role in the bulk purchase of petrochemical products from PGPICC and JPC. Through Lustro Industry Limited, Edgar Commercial Solutions FZE has remitted millions of dollars to Oligei International Trading Co. Limited, a PGPICC front company, for the purchase of petrochemical products from PGPICC.
Since 2019, UAE-based Iranian nationals Morteza Rajabieslami (Rajabieslami) and Mahdieh Sanchuli (Sanchuli) have partnered to export Iranian crude oil and petrochemical products on behalf of Switzerland-based Naftiran Intertrade Company (NICO), the marketing arm of NIOC, through companies and vessels under their control. Rajabieslami owns an extensive network of companies engaged in refining, energy trading, shipping, and bunkering, which have facilitated the shipment of thousands of metric tons of fuel oil worth millions of dollars from Iran. These companies have been involved in contracts valued in the tens of millions of dollars related to the sale of petroleum products from NICO.
