{"id":129222,"date":"2025-09-03T09:10:15","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T09:10:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/npasyria.com\/en\/?p=129222"},"modified":"2025-09-03T09:10:16","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T09:10:16","slug":"u-s-sanctions-iraqi-businessman-for-smuggling-iranian-oil-under-iraqi-cover","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/npasyria.com\/en\/129222\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. sanctions Iraqi businessman for smuggling Iranian oil under Iraqi cover"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) \u2013<\/strong> The U.S. Department of the Treasury&#8217;s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned on Tuesday a UAE-based network led by Iraqi-Kittitian businessman Waleed Khaled Hameed al-Samarra\u2019i for orchestrating a multimillion-dollar scheme smuggling Iranian oil disguised as Iraqi crude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The oil was then marketed as solely Iraqi in origin to bypass U.S. sanctions targeting Iran\u2019s petroleum sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Al-Samarra\u2019i, who holds citizenship in Iraq and St. Kitts and Nevis, used two UAE-based companies\u2014Babylon Navigation DMCC and Galaxy Oil FZ LLC\u2014to manage shipping logistics and global sales, respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThese sanctions aim to cut off Iran\u2019s revenue streams that fund destabilizing activities,\u201d said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. \u201cIraq must not become a haven for malign actors.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The action follows similar July 3 measures targeting another Iran-linked oil smuggling network. <a href=\"https:\/\/home.treasury.gov\/news\/press-releases\/sb0233\">OFAC<\/a> cited Executive Order 13902, which targets Iran\u2019s petroleum sector, as the legal basis for the new sanctions.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>By Jwan Shekaki<\/strong><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) \u2013 The U.S. Department of the Treasury&#8217;s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned on Tuesday a UAE-based network led by Iraqi-Kittitian businessman Waleed Khaled Hameed al-Samarra\u2019i 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 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":129223,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pgc_sgb_lightbox_settings":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[39,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-129222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home","category-middle-east"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>U.S. sanctions Iraqi businessman for smuggling Iranian oil under Iraqi cover<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) \u2013 The U.S. Department of the Treasury&#039;s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned on Tuesday a UAE-based network\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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