U.S. targets network transporting Iranian petroleum

The Treasury Department has reported that OFAC has designated United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based Indian national Jugwinder Singh Brar (Brar), who owns multiple shipping companies that boast a fleet of nearly 30 vessels, many of which operate as part of Iran’s “shadow fleet.” OFAC is also designating two UAE- and two India-based entities that own and operate Brar’s vessels that have transported Iranian oil on behalf of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) and the Iranian military.

According to Treasury, Brar’s vessels engage in high-risk ship-to-ship (STS) transfers of Iranian petroleum in waters off Iraq, Iran, the UAE, and the Gulf of Oman. These cargoes then reach other facilitators who blend the oil or fuel with products from other countries and falsify shipping documents to conceal links to Iran, allowing these cargoes to reach the international market.

Concurrently, the Department of State designated four companies for having knowingly engaged in a significant transaction for the purchase, acquisition, sale, transport, or marketing of petroleum or petroleum products from Iran, and identifying two vessels as blocked property of two of these companies.

For a link to identification information on the designated individuals, entities, and vessels, see yesterday’s BankersOnline OFAC Update.