The U.S. Treasury Department said on Thursday that it is sanctioning “the remnants of Iran’s shadow fleet” as part of its efforts to isolate the Islamic Republic in “Operation Economic Outcast.”
The shadow fleet is a network of tankers that exports oil and petroleum products to foreign markets, producing billions of dollars for the regime. The fleet is designed to evade identification via false flags, front companies, forged documentation, transponder manipulation and other means.
The federal government “is starving the tyrannical regime in Tehran of the money it uses to wage war in the region, and we will continue exposing those who enable the regime’s oil sales,” stated Scott Bessent. U.S. treasury secretary.
“No enabler of Iranian sanctions evasion is safe from the full force of Treasury’s authorities,” he stated.
The department has hit the shadow fleet with multiple rounds of sanctions. The latest involves 17 vessels registered across the Bahamas, Cameroon, Comoros, Gambia, Hong Kong, Mongolia, Palau, Panama, San Marino, Sierra Leone, Vanuatu and Zanzibar.
Eighteen companies were designated for operating in the petroleum or petrochemical sector of the Iranian economy, the department said.
Two vessels were also removed from the sanctions list “following a demonstrated change in circumstances, namely the removal of these vessels from the shadow fleet and their sale to non-sanctioned” or “U.S.-aligned operators,” the department said.
“Today’s action effectively neutralizes the vast majority of Iran’s remaining shadow fleet network,” the department stated.
Iranian oil shipments have been driven to record lows amid “Operation Economic Outcast,” which focuses on secondary sanctions, increasing the risk for any individual or entity that does business with a designated person or business.
“With the success of the U.S. military’s blockade, dwindling Iranian oil shipments outside the blockage line and intensifying economic pressure across sectors from ‘Operation Economic Outcast,’ the regime is running out of options to stabilize Iran’s failing economy,” the department said.
