The U.S. Department of the Treasury on Thursday announced sanctions against 29 vessels and their management companies for assisting Iran in evading U.S. oil sanctions through deceptive shipping practices.
According to the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the vessels were part of Iran’s so-called “shadow fleet,” a network used to transport Iranian petroleum and petroleum products while obscuring their origin through methods such as ship-to-ship transfers and complex ownership structures.
Treasury officials said the sanctioned vessels transported hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of Iranian crude oil and refined petroleum products, including fuel oil, bitumen, naphtha, and condensate, during 2025.
Since President Donald Trump returned to office, his administration has sanctioned more than 180 vessels involved in shipping Iranian petroleum and petroleum products. Treasury said the effort is intended to reduce the revenue Iran receives from oil exports, which U.S. officials say helps fund the country’s military and weapons programs.
“As President Trump has said repeatedly, the United States will not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon,” Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence John K. Hurley said in a statement. “Treasury will continue to deprive the regime of the petroleum revenue it uses to fund its military and weapons programs.”
The Dallas Express has previously reported on U.S. efforts to dismantle Iran’s sanctions-evasion networks, including the use of foreign shipping firms and opaque financial arrangements to sustain petroleum exports.
Foreign Operators and Flags of Convenience
OFAC said the sanctioned vessels operated under flags from multiple jurisdictions, including Palau, Panama, the Cook Islands, Barbados, and Jamaica. The ships were owned and managed by companies registered in various countries, many of which, Treasury said, were established primarily to own or operate individual vessels.
Treasury also designated several shipping companies for operating in Iran’s petroleum sector in violation of U.S. sanctions authorities, including firms based in the United Arab Emirates, Panama, India, and the Marshall Islands.
According to OFAC, some of the vessels made port calls to Houthi-controlled ports in Yemen, while others conducted ship-to-ship transfers in the Persian Gulf to conceal the origin of Iranian petroleum.
One tanker identified in the action, M K A, was previously involved in transporting petroleum products originating from Russia in addition to Iranian oil, Treasury said.
Sanctions Against Egyptian Shipping Executive
The sanctions also target Hatem Elsaid Farid Ibrahim Sakr, an Egyptian businessman based in the United Arab Emirates, whom Treasury described as a key foreign enabler of Iranian petroleum exports.
OFAC said Sakr owns and operates multiple shipping and petroleum-related companies that were linked to seven of the sanctioned vessels. Treasury stated that Sakr’s firms were associated with petroleum shipments coordinated with Iranian military-associated front companies.
One vessel, the SKYLIGHT, conducted a ship-to-ship transfer of Iranian condensate shortly after Sakr acquired the tanker in June 2023, according to Treasury.
Additional vessels connected to Sakr’s business network were also sanctioned after the Treasury said they transported Iranian petroleum products on multiple occasions.
Sanctions Implications
As a result of the action, all property and interests in property of the designated vessels, companies, and individuals that are within U.S. jurisdiction or under the control of U.S. persons are blocked. U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions involving sanctioned entities without authorization from OFAC.
Treasury said violations of U.S. sanctions may result in civil or criminal penalties.
The sanctions were imposed under Executive Order 13902 and are part of the administration’s broader maximum-pressure campaign against Iran, including the implementation of the President’s National Security Presidential Memorandum directing increased economic pressure on Tehran.
Treasury officials said the latest designations reflect an expanding effort to disrupt Iran’s global oil-smuggling networks and the foreign operators that support them.
