U.S. sanctions Iraqi businessman for smuggling Iranian oil under Iraqi cover
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned on Tuesday a UAE-based network led by Iraqi-Kittitian businessman Waleed Khaled Hameed al-Samarra’i for orchestrating a multimillion-dollar scheme smuggling Iranian oil disguised as Iraqi crude.
The network allegedly generated over $300 million annually by blending Iranian and Iraqi oil through ship-to-ship transfers in the Arabian Gulf and Iraqi ports.
The oil was then marketed as solely Iraqi in origin to bypass U.S. sanctions targeting Iran’s petroleum sector.
Al-Samarra’i, who holds citizenship in Iraq and St. Kitts and Nevis, used two UAE-based companies—Babylon Navigation DMCC and Galaxy Oil FZ LLC—to manage shipping logistics and global sales, respectively.
Nine Liberia-flagged vessels operated by Babylon, including ADENA and BIANCA, were sanctioned alongside five Marshall Islands-based shell companies suspected of concealing ownership links.
“These sanctions aim to cut off Iran’s revenue streams that fund destabilizing activities,” said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. “Iraq must not become a haven for malign actors.”
The action follows similar July 3 measures targeting another Iran-linked oil smuggling network. OFAC cited Executive Order 13902, which targets Iran’s petroleum sector, as the legal basis for the new sanctions.
All U.S.-linked assets of designated entities are now blocked, and U.S. persons are prohibited from engaging in transactions with them. Foreign financial institutions involved with these entities risk secondary sanctions.
OFAC emphasized that its aim is to induce behavioral change, not punishment, and noted that removal from the sanctions list is possible under U.S. law.