美国财政部再次将打击目标对准了伊朗“影子舰队”的行业领头人穆罕默德·侯赛因·什姆哈尼的网络。他是今年2月在空袭中丧生的伊朗高级顾问阿里·什姆哈尼之子。什姆哈尼航运网络已为伊朗伊斯兰革命卫队（IRGC）运输了数百万桶石油，是财政部对伊朗能源出口实施“最大压力”行动的首要目标。在周二宣布的最新一轮制裁中，财政部将9艘船只和十几家与什姆哈尼有关的公司及个人列入了黑名单。
该网络通过看起来信誉良好的幌子实体运营，其中许多位于阿拉伯联合酋长国监管较轻的“自由贸易区”。在此次行动中，财政部制裁了总部均设在阿联酋的Oriel Group控股公司及其一系列关联公司。受制裁实体包括：Corplinx Consultancy、House of Shipping Investment FZCO、Meritron DMCC、Helmatic Consultancy DMCC以及Taylor Shipping FZCO。
财政部还针对该网络运营的更多影子舰队船只实施了制裁，包括：Aura、Horae、Versa、Anaya、Daphne V、Silvar、Cauveri、Bellaris以及Anika。此次针对什姆哈尼的新制裁出台之际，据称伊朗国家石油公司正在将其贸易和航运业务转回内部管理，这是为了应对此前协调灰色市场贸易的革命卫队成员的高伤亡率。伊朗官媒承认，国家石油公司将重新获得对该国石油销售的专属控制权，从而摆脱革命卫队运营的非正式销售网络。此外，财政部还制裁了一项涉及伊朗以石油换黄金的贸易计划。
The U.S. Treasury is once again taking aim at the network of Iranian "shadow fleet" industry leader Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani, son of senior Iranian advisor Ali Shamkhani, who was killed in an airstrike in February. The Shamkhani shipping network has moved millions of barrels of oil for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and it is a primary target of Treasury's "maximum pressure" campaign on Iran's energy exports. In the latest round announced Tuesday, the department blacklisted nine vessels and more than a dozen companies and individuals linked to Shamkhani.
The Shamkhani network operates through reputable-looking front companies, many in the United Arab Emirates, where foreign interests intermingle in a lightly-regulated "free zone" business environment. In this new round of actions, Treasury sanctioned the holding company Oriel Group and a constellation of related Shamkhani affiliates, all based in the Emirates. These include Corplinx Consultancy; House of Shipping Investment FZCO; Meritron DMCC; Helmatic Consultancy DMCC; and Taylor Shipping FZCO.
Treasury also targeted more shadow-fleet vessels operated by the Shamkhani network, to include Aura (IMO 9274563), Horae (IMO 9413004), Versa (IMO 9379301), Anaya (IMO 9326885), Daphne V (IMO 9321677), Silvar (IMO 9291262), Cauveri (IMO 9282508), Bellaris (IMO 9332614), and Anika (IMO 9417464).
The new sanctions on the Shamkhani arrive just as Iran's state oil company is said to be shifting its trading and shipping operations back in-house, an adaptation to the high fatality rate among IRGC members who previously coordinated the gray-market trade. State-run news agency IRNA and Iranian outlet Tehran Times both claimed this week that the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) will take back exclusive control over the sale of the nation's oil - a shift away from the informal sales network operated by the IRGC.
As an additional action, Treasury also sanctioned an Iranian oil-for-gold trading scheme that provided support for the government of former Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro (now under arrest in the U.S.). The department identified Iranian national Seyed Naiemaei Badroddin Moosavi as a facilitator for the IRGC's oil sales, the profits from which were used to underwrite Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah, an IRGC proxy force. One such scheme involved shipping Iranian oil into Venezuela in exchange for gold from the Maduro regime. The gold would then be resold in overseas markets.
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Treasury identified two UAE-based companies, ACS Trading and Lotus Universal, as linked to Moosavi. An additional affiliated firm, ACS Global, is based in the Netherlands, the department said.
Top image: VesselFinder / Giwrgos Mertis
