THE US announced fresh sanctions on Wednesday, targeting two networks it said shipped Iranian oil for the benefit of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, an Iranian proxy.

More than a dozen entities, including nine tankers, were sanctioned in the latest round of designations, which comes amid intensifying fighting between Israel and US-designated terrorist group Hezbollah.

Three of the vessels blocked on Wednesday — Confidence P (IMO: 9178044), Rival (IMO: 9117818), and Nova (IMO: 9141259) — were also previously sanctioned by the Israeli Ministry of Defence’s National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing, which announced its entry to the maritime sanctions game in July.

Israel and the US are known to closely co-operate on matters of intelligence and security. Given Israel’s fresh interest in the role shipping plays in financing Iran and its proxies, it is not unreasonable to assume that the two allies would be sharing intelligence on this matter as well.

The three tankers — as well as one Iran-flagged tanker — were blocked on Wednesday in connection with Luay al-Mallah, brother of sanctioned Syrian “shipping magnate” Abdul Jalil Mallah, who was designated by the US Office of Foreign Assets Control in 2021.

A UK High Court judge handed Abdul Jalil Mallah an 18-month prison sentence in May for lying to the court and ordered that his assets in the UK be confiscated in relation to a dispute with US investment titan Oaktree Capital Management.

Oaktree had bareboat chartered two bulkers to Jalil Mallah and sought to end the deal and recover them following his sanctioning by the US in 2021. The High Court in London found in favour of Oaktree and awarded the company costs of $1m.

Mallah network

Ofac said Luay al-Mallah helped Abdul Jalil manage his shipping network after he was designated for assisting Sa’id al-Jamal, an IRGC-backed Houthi “financial official”.

“The Mallah family’s ships, including the Panama-flagged Confidence P, Sao Tome and Principe-flagged Nova, Panama-flagged Rival, and Iran-flagged Tiyara (IMO: 9231224), have facilitated illicit trade between Syria and Iran for the benefit of the IRGC-QF and Hezbollah,” Ofac said.

Ofac identified the four tankers as property in which Jalil Mallah has an interest. Türkiye-based Oryx Denizcilik Limited Sirketi was sanctioned for being owned by Luay al-Mallah and directed by Jalil Mallah.

Rival, Nova, and Tiyara were sanctioned by Israel, along with 15 other vessels, in October of 2023 and July of 2024 for facilitating trades on behalf of Hezbollah and IRGC-QF.

Senior officials with the NBCTF told Lloyd’s List in August that the oil sales were co-ordinated by prominent terrorist facilitators Muhammad Ja’far Qasir, a Hezbollah financier, and Syria-based Qatirji Group, both of which are under US sanctions.

Qatirji Group chief Muhammad Baraa al-Qatirji was assassinated in July, reportedly by Israel. The US has a reward of up to $10m for information on Qasir.

IRGC-QF and Hezbollah

The second network sanctioned by Ofac on Wednesday included Marshall Islands-registered and China-based Star Ocean Shipmanage, which the agency said is the manager and operator of Panama-flagged tankers Eternal Success (IMO: 9307633), Eternal 8 (IMO: 9232448), and Eternal Peace (IMO: 9259745).

“The IRGC-QF used the Eternal Success to facilitate illicit trade as recently as July 2024, manipulating its automatic identification system to disguise its movements while sailing towards East Asia, where it transferred its cargo to another tanker via a ship-to-ship transfer,” Ofac said.

“Similar to its sister ship, the Eternal 8 has also been involved in transferring shipments for the IRGC-QF.”

The three tankers were identified as property in which Star Ocean has an interest.

Additionally, Ofac sanctioned Marshall Islands-based Dragon Road Ltd and Hong Kong-based Tai Feng Hai Shipping, which are the registered owners of Panama-flagged Serene I (IMO: 9197832) and Feng Tai (IMO: 9248473), respectively.

Both tankers loaded “IRQC-QF-owned products” in Iran on behalf of US-sanctioned, Lebanon-based Hezbollah affiliate Concepto Screen SAL Offshore, Ofac said. The tankers were identified as property in which their registered owners have an interest.

The nine tankers blocked yesterday bring the total of ships sanctioned so far this year for Iran or terrorism links to 64, including one tug.

“Iran continues to rely heavily on the illicit sale of oil and liquid petroleum gas by the IRGC-QF and Lebanese Hezbollah to fund its terrorist proxies and destabilising activities,” said Bradley Smith, acting undersecretary of the treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence.

“Treasury remains committed to disrupting the networks of shippers, brokers, and buyers that facilitate these schemes.”