U.S. Sanctions Additional Ships and Captains in Iranian Oil Smuggling Network Linked to Houthi Attacks

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has imposed additional sanctions on 18 entities, individuals, and vessels linked to the sprawling illicit shipping network funding Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea.

Two of the sanctioned individuals are vessel captains, signaling the United States’ continued intent to target not just the intricate system of companies, managers, and vessels transporting Iranian commodities, but also the individuals overseeing these shipments. 

OFAC says this shipping network, orchestrated by Sa’id al-Jamal, a Houthi financial official backed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF), has been facilitating the sale of Iranian oil to fund Houthi attacks in the region.

The latest sanctions target a complex web of front companies, ship operators, and vessel captains involved in transporting Iranian petroleum products. Notable among the sanctioned entities is Changtai Shipping Ltd, owner of the Panama-flagged crude oil tanker KAPOK, which allegedly transported over a million barrels of crude oil worth tens of millions of dollars for al-Jamal’s network.

Also under the spotlight is the Marshall Islands-based Motionavigations Limited and UAE-based Indo Gulf Ship Management LLC, whow managed vessels such as the MARBEL and TROPHY, which were implicated in smuggling Iranian fuel oil. 

“The Houthis remain reliant on Sa’id al-Jamal’s international network and affiliated facilitators to transport and sell Iranian oil, continuing their campaign of violence,” said Acting Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Bradley Smith.

The sanctions, implemented under the counterterrorism authority Executive Order 13224, also target individuals like Yevhen Skriabin, a UAE-based Ukrainian national who owns and operates several companies involved in the illicit oil trade.

Skriabin’s companies manage multiple vessels, including the Cook Islands-flagged MARBEL, TROPHY, and ONYX, and the Palau-flagged LIANA, GRATIA, and JUVENIS.

Vessel Captains Sanctioned

In a significant move, OFAC has sanctioned two key vessel captains, Iranian national Ali Barkhordar and Pakistani national Wahid Ullah Durrani, for their roles in facilitating ship-to-ship transfers of Iranian oil in mid-August 2024. Barkhordar, acting as the master of the U.S.-sanctioned vessel YORGOS, and Durrani, the captain of the Guyanese-flagged OLYMPICS, worked in tandem to transfer sanctioned oil for al-Jamal’s network.

“The al-Jamal network is not only reliant on its system of companies, managers, and vessels to transport Iranian commodities, but also on the individuals who oversee these shipments,” OFAC said in a statement.

To date, OFAC has sanctioned at least six ship Captains for their roles in these illicit operations.

For nearly a year, al-Jamal’s network has enabled the Houthis to carry out scores of missile and unmanned aerial vehicle attacks on commercial vessels transiting the Red Sea. The latest round of sanctions from OFAC come a day after U.S. Air Force stealth B-2 bombers conducted precision strikes on five Houthi underground weapons storage sites in Yemen.

“Treasury remains committed to utilizing all available tools to disrupt this key source of illicit revenue that enables the Houthis’ destabilizing activities,” Smith added.

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