THE US sanctioned an Iraqi oil terminal and more than 30 individuals, entities and “shadow fleet” tankers on Thursday as the “maximum pressure” sanctions campaign on Iran resumed for the first time since Washington bombed the Islamic Republic’s nuclear facilities last month amid the 12-day Israel-Iran war.

Thursday’s action and statements from US officials suggest the US will continue to pile on pressure after previous messaging from US President Donald Trump and negotiator Steve Witkoff appeared to open the door to some sanctions relief following the US strikes. However, president Trump has since said sanctions relief was off the table.

“As president Trump has made clear, Iran’s behaviour has left it decimated,” US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.

“While it has had every opportunity to choose peace, its leaders have chosen extremism.

“The Treasury will continue to target Tehran’s revenue sources and intensify economic pressure to disrupt the regime’s access to the financial resources that fuel its destabilising activities.

The designations targeted networks that moved “billions of dollars’ worth” of Iranian oil, according to the US Office of Foreign Assets Control.

Among Thursday’s targets was a web of companies linked to UK and Iraqi national Salim Ahmed Said, whom the US accused of “selling Iranian oil falsely declared as Iraqi oil since at least 2020”.

According to Ofac, “Said’s companies and vessels blend Iranian oil with Iraqi oil, which is then sold to Western buyers via Iraq or the United Arab Emirates as purely Iraqi oil using forged documentation to avoid sanctions.”

Ofac also accused Said of bribing “many members of key Iraqi government bodies, including parliament”.

Said owns the VS Oil Terminal in Iraq’s Khor al Zubair port, according to Ofac. The company “manages six oil storage tanks where Iranian oil is dropped off to be mixed with Iraqi oil”.

“Vessels carrying Iranian oil also conduct ship-to-ship transfers with vessels carrying Iraqi oil in the vicinity of VS Oil’s terminal facilities, and the blended oil is ultimately authenticated by complicit Iraqi government officials.”

Lloyd’s List has previously reported how ship’s location data and shipping documents were routinely being manipulated and forged to disguise Iranian cargoes as Iraqi.

According to Ofac, Said also owns UK-based The Willett Hotel Limited and Robinbest Limited. Lloyd’s List was unable to find contact information for The Willett Hotel, and it was not immediately clear whether Said was linked to the establishment, which booking websites place near Sloane Square in London.

UAE-based VS Tankers FZE, which Ofac said was controlled by Said, was sanctioned for “operating in the petroleum sector of the Iranian economy”. The 2019-built, Marshall Islands-flagged very large crude carrier Dijilah (IMO: 9829629) was identified as blocked property of VS Tankers FZE.

VS petroleum DMCC, Rhine Shipping DMCC, The Willett Hotel Limited and Robinbest Limited were designated for being controlled by Said.

Shadow fleet and IRGC oil sales

In addition to the Said network, Ofac and the US State Department designated a further 11 oil and gas tankers involved in Iranian oil and LPG shipments, including three very large crude carriers.

Ofac said Vizuri (IMO: 9197909), Fotis (IMO: 9306548), Nayara (IMO: 9264570), Bianca Joysel (IMO: 9196632) “have collectively shipped tens of millions of barrels of Iranian oil and other petroleum worth billions of dollars”, and also designated Elizabet (IMO: 9216717), Atila (IMO: 9262754) and Gas Maryam (IMO: 9108099) in connection with oil sales on behalf of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps-Quds Force.

Cameroon-flagged Elizabet famously assumed the identity of S Tinos (IMO: 9166754), a vessel scrapped in 2018, while engaging in a ship-to-ship transfer with US-sanctioned VLCC Arman 114 (IMO: 9116412) off the Riau Islands in 2023 that was interrupted by the Indonesia Navy. According to Ofac, the vessel similarly assumed S Tinos’ identity during an STS of Iranian off Malaysia in August 2024.

The State Department targeted Bateleur (IMO: 9045807) and Neel (IMO: 9157478) in connection with India-based shipmanager Sai Saburi Consulting Services Private Limited, which the agency said shipped Iranian LPG on behalf of US-sanctioned, Pakistan-based commodities trader Alliance Energy in 2022.

“Bateleur and Neel have likely continued to load and transport Iranian energy products, having done so likely over eleven times during Sai Saburi’s tenure as their commercial manager.”

Neel was recently featured in a Wall Street Journal investigation that tracked an April 2023 voyage by the ageing vessel as it shipped Iranian-origin LPG to India’s Mundra port.

The State Department also designated crude tankers Shelif (IMO: 9102241) and Rieveria I (IMO: 9286229).

Thursday’s actions saw the US continue to target service providers, with Ofac designating Singapore-based Trans Arctic Global Marine Services, which the agency accused of arranging piloting services for National Iranian Tanker Company vessels passing the Strait of Malacca.

* Lloyd’s List defines a tanker as being part of the Shadow Fleet if it engages in one or more deceptive shipping practices indicating that it is involved in the facilitation of sanctioned oil cargoes from Iran, Russia or Venezuela. Or it is sanctioned for participation in sanctioned oil trades or is sanctioned for links to a company that is sanctioned for facilitating the export of sanctioned oil.