US Sanctions Ship Owners, Ships Moving Iranian Cargo

The U.S. this week sanctioned two ship owners in Hong Kong and the Marshall Islands, along with their two vessels, for helping to ship Iranian “commodities” on behalf of sanctioned Houthi financial facilitator Sa’id al-Jamal. The designations target Hongkong Unitop Group Ltd., Reneez Shipping Limited and their ships, the Panama-flagged Eternal Fortune and the Palau-flagged Reneez, respectively.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control said the Eternal Fortune and the Artura conducted a ship-to-ship transfer -- a cargo transfer between two ships while at sea. The agency said both ships sent out fake Automatic Identification System signals to try to hide the transfer. OFAC sanctioned the Artura last month for illegally moving Iranian goods (see 2402270029).

OFAC also said the Reneez has transported tens of thousands of metric tons of Iranian commodities for the network managed by al-Jamal. That network “often uses falsified cargo documents to mask the Iran-origin cargo onboard and to obfuscate its ties to Iran” and al-Jamal, the agency said.