The United States Treasury Department on Thursday announced sanctions against tanker operator Oceanlink Maritime DMCC accusing it of transporting commodities for Iran’s military.
The enforcement by the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) targets 13 ships that the department said are managed by Oceanlink Maritime.
Announcing an enforcement action Thursday, the Treasury said in a statement, “The Oceanlink Maritime DMCC-managed vessel HECATE recently loaded Iranian commodities valued at over $100 million dollars via a ship-to-ship (STS) transfer from another sanctioned tanker, the DOVER, on behalf of Iran’s Sepehr Energy Jahan Nama Pars (Sepehr Energy), which OFAC sanctioned in November 2023 for its role selling Iranian commodities for the AFGS and MODAFL”. The Treasury was referring to Iran’s Armed Forces General Staff (AFGS) and Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics (MODAFL).
Another ship, Saint Light, previously sanctioned by the U.S. as the vessel Young Yong, conducted an STS transfer of “Iranian commodities” March 27 with the sanctioned vessel Hawk, which is operated by the National Iranian Tanker Co., the Treasury said.
Worth over $100 million, the cargo had earlier undergone an STS transfer between Hawk and yet another sanctioned vessel, Kohana, the Treasury said.
It identified the other targeted ships as Baxter, Calypso Gas, Cape Gas, Demeter, Elsa, Glaucus, Hebe, Meraki, Oceanus Gas and Ourea.
These “have all shipped Iranian commodities, some as recently as March of this year”, the Treasury said.
“As a result of today’s action, all property and interests in property of the designated persons described above that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons are blocked and must be reported to OFAC”, the Treasury said. “In addition, any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, individually or in the aggregate, 50 percent or more by one or more blocked persons are also blocked”.