The United States♔ has imposed sanctions on four India-based companies for their alleged role in the trade and transportation of Iranian crude oil and petroleum products. As part of the Trump administration's maximum pressure campaign on Iran, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and the US Department of State announced sanctions on more than 30 individuals and vessels across various countries, including these four Indian firms, according to reports.
🉐The sanctioned companies are Navi Mumbai-based Flux Maritime LLP, National Capital Region (NCR)-based BSM Marine LLP and Austinship Management Pvt Ltd, and Thanjavur-based Cosmos Lines Inc. Three of these companies were sanctioned for serving as commercial or technical managers of vessels allegedly involved in the transportation of Iranian oil and petroleum products, while Cosmos Lines was specifically targeted for its purported involvement in transporting Iranian petroleum.
ꦿ“Among those sanctioned today are oil brokers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Hong Kong, tanker operators and managers in India and People’s Republic of China (PRC), the head of Iran’s National Iranian Oil Company, and the Iranian Oil Terminals Company, whose operations help finance Iran’s destabilizing activities. The vessels sanctioned today are responsible for shipping tens of millions of barrels of crude oil valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars,” the OFAC said in a release Monday.
🐼“The Iranian regime continues to destabilize global security with its nuclear threat, ballistic missile program, and support for terrorist groups. Iran’s oil exports are enabled by a network of illicit shipping facilitators in multiple jurisdictions who, through obfuscation and deception, load and transport Iranian oil for sale to buyers in Asia.
ꩵToday, the United States is taking action under President Trump’s maximum pressure campaign on Iran to stem the flow of revenue the regime uses to fund these destabilizing activities,” US Department of State said in a separate release.
