US Treasury imposes new sanctions targeting financing for Houthi rebels

The US Department of Treasury has imposed a new batch of sanctions on people, companies and ships involved in trading Iranian oil to help finance the Houthi rebels' continued attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea.

The sanctions target two individuals, five companies and five ships, Matthew Miller, State Department spokesperson, said in a July 18 statement. "We will continue to use all available tools to disrupt funding streams that enable the Houthis to continue their destabilizing activity in the region," he said.

On July 15 alone, the Houthis claimed a role in three shipping attacks in the Red Sea and the Mediterranean.

And despite US sanctions, Tehran has continued to increase crude production. The latest Platts OPEC+ survey by S&P Global Commodities Insights has Iranian crude production at 3.2 million b/d in June, up from 2.71 million b/d a year ago.

Sanctioned ships

The ships sanctioned July 18 are the Wanji, Oceanic II, Tirex, Mirova Dynamic, and the Kasper. The ships have been used to facilitate tens of millions of dollars' worth of illicit trade, Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, said in a statement.

Since 2023, the Kasper and the Mirova Dynamic shipped 4.8 million barrels of Iranian crude for discharge in China, according to S&P Global Commodities at Sea data.

The ships are used by the network of the previously sanctioned Houthi financier Sa'id al-Jamal, OFAC said. That network "relies on numerous, seemingly innocuous, companies in multiple jurisdictions," OFAC said.

Many of the newly sanctioned ships are flagged in Panama. In the past, some advocates for stricter sanctions on Iran have told US lawmakers that the US should pressure Panama to stop flagging vessels in the shadow fleet.

Targeted companies

Newly sanctioned companies include the Thailand and Singapore-based Ascent General Insurance Company, which has provided insurance to sanctioned ships, OFAC said. Treasury also sanctioned United Arab Emirates-based Fornacis Energy Trading, which has purchased and shipped tens of millions of dollars' worth of Iranian cargo, the statement said.

Treasury also sanctioned UAE-based Barco Ship Management, Marshall Islands-registered Sea Knot Shipping and UAE-based Alpha Shine Marine Services, each of which manage some of the newly sanctioned ships.

Treasury sanctioned Mohammad Roslan Bin Ahmad, an Indonesia-based shipment facilitator who provides ship management and brokering services for the network and for the dark fleet more generally, OFAC said. "Royston has also brokered vessels for illicit Russian and Venezuelan trade," OFAC said.

The other individual sanctioned is Zhuang Liang, a businessman based in China who has engaged in money laundering and other finance-related schemes for the Sa'id al-Jamal network, OFAC said. Zhuang has also assisted Houthi-affiliate Abdi Nasir Ali Mahamud in circumventing sanctions by providing him access to the international financial system, OFAC said.