US sanctions four Indian firms shipping Iranian oil

The US has sanctioned four companies based out of India over alleged involvement in trade and transportation of Iranian petroleum-related products, the State Department said in a statement on Tuesday.

The four are part of 30 people and vessels in various countries that have been sanctioned as part of the Donald Trump administration’s “maximum pressure campaign” on Iran by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), and the US Department of State.

The Indian companies on the sanctioned list are Navi Mumbai-based Flux Maritime LLP, Gurugram-based BSM Marine LLP, Noida-based Austinship Management Pvt. Ltd, and Thanjavur-based Cosmos Lines Inc., according to the OFAC and the US Department of State.

Three of these four are commercial or technical managers of vessels allegedly involved in transportation of Iranian oil and petroleum products, while one—Cosmos Lines—has been sanctioned over its alleged involvement in transport of Iranian petroleum.

“Among those sanctioned today are oil brokers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Hong Kong, tanker operators and mangers 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 statement.

“The Iranian regime continues to destabilize global security with its nuclear threat, ballistic missile program, and support for terrorist groups,” the state department said in a separate release.

“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. Today, the US 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,” the statement said.

To be sure, this is not the instance of Indian entities coming under US sanctions over alleged involvement in sanctioned energy transportation and trade through so-called shadow fleet of tankers.

Last August and September, three India-registered shipping firms were sanctioned over alleged involvement in transporting liquefied natural gas from Russia’s Arctic LNG 2 project.

In October, Gabbaro Ship Services was sanctioned for alleged involvement in transportation of Iranian oil.

A “shadow fleet” consists of ships trading oil and petroleum products from Russia, Iran, and Venezuela.

With Western operators avoiding these sanctioned markets, operators from Greece, Russia, China, and tax havens such as Marshall Islands, Liberia, and Panama dominate this trade.

Many shadow fleet tankers have unclear ownership and are registered in areas with lenient regulatory oversight. These often aging vessels typically operate with inadequate insurance and certifications.