US Imposes Sanctions on Iranian Oil Minister, Shadow Fleet

(Reuters) – The United States imposed sanctions on Thursday on Iran’s oil minister Mohsen Paknejad and some Hong Kong-flagged vessels that are part of a shadow fleet that helps disguise Iranian oil shipments, the Treasury Department said.

Paknejad “oversees the export of tens of billions of dollars’ worth of Iranian oil and has allocated billions of dollars’ worth of oil to Iran’s armed forces for export,” Treasury said in a statement.

Treasury also designated owners or operators of vessels that have delivered Iranian oil to China or lifted it from storage there, it said. Those were in multiple jurisdictions, including India and China, it said.

Iran’s military relies on a vast shadow fleet of ships to disguise shipments worth billions to China.

Thursday’s designated vessels include the Hong Kong-flagged Peace Hill and its owner Hong Kong Heshun Transportation Trading Limited, the Iran-flagged Polaris 1, the Seychelles-registered Fallon Shipping Company Ltd, and the Liberia-registered Itaugua Services Inc, Treasury said.

The U.S. Department of State is designating three entities and three vessels as blocked property, it said.

Reporting by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Brendan O’Brien and Toby Chopra

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