THE US government may be shut down, but the US Office of Foreign Assets Control and State Department are still there to slap more sanctions on Iran.

The two agencies unveiled sweeping sanctions on Thursday that targeted over 80 ships, individuals and entities, combined.

Ofac’s designations marked the agency’s heaviest crackdown on Iran’s liquefied petroleum gas supply chain to date, targeting 14 gas carriers, of which 11 are very large gas carriers. Sixteen oil tankers, two tugs and a general cargoship were also sanctioned in the combined action.

Lloyd’s List estimates that Iran’s shadow LPG fleet* totals over 110 vessels, including 59 VLGCs. The designation of additional 11 VLGCs on Thursday means that over 25 VLGCs — which constitute upward of 40% of all Iran-linked VLGCs — are now sanctioned (excluding Tinos I, which has been stranded off Houston since June 2024).

It remains to be seen whether these designations will have a material or lasting impact on Iran’s LPG exports, and previous experience suggests Iran will quickly adapt. As evident from its crude sector, Iran is well-versed at circumventing sanctions and keeping its commodities flowing.

However, Iranian LPG is shipped more efficiently than its crude oil. While an Iranian crude oil cargo will likely undergo several STS transfers before reaching its customers, LPG typically takes a more direct route. Complicating these supply chains with additional transfers will add costs and likely chip away at the suppliers’ margins.

An LPG crackdown

Six VLGCs sanctioned on Thursday were featured in a Lloyd’s List investigation published in November 2023. The investigation found that these ships were part of a fleet of over a dozen veteran LPG carriers connected through a complex web of Panamanian shell entities, and linked to individuals in the orbit of an Iranian businessman who Ofac called an “Iranian LPG magnate”, and his son. Both were sanctioned by the US in April.

Those six VLGCs include Captain Nikolas (IMO: 9008108), which caught fire off Bangladesh nearly a year ago during a ship-to-ship transfer of suspected Iranian LPG. The others are Gas Marta (IMO: 9307748), Gas Leader (IMO: 9114581), Negh (formerly known as Gas Vision) (IMO: 9115303), Sea Hermes (IMO: 9031519) and Sona (IMO: 9005053).

All but Sona are owned or operated by Dubai-based Sea Ship Management LLC, which was sanctioned for “operating in the petroleum sector of the Iranian economy”.

Ofac also designated three United Arab Emirates-based companies it said play a “key role” in facilitating the sale of Iranian LPG to Sri Lanka: Slogal Energy DMCC, Amita Petrochemical Trading and Markan White Trading Crude Oil Abroad Co LLC.

Slogal Energy DMCC is the trading arm of Sri Lanka-based Laugfs Gas PLC, a Colombo Stock Exchange-listed company, according to an annual report covering the period between April 2024 and March 2025. Laugfs Gas has been approached for comment after hours on Thursday via email.

Ofac said Amita formed Markan in 2024 to “act on its behalf” on transactions with the Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industry Commercial Co (PGPICC), the marketing arm of Iran’s sanctioned petrochemical conglomerate PGPIC.

According to Ofac, “PGPICC and Markan White coordinated the sale of $26m worth of Iranian LPG to be shipped to China aboard Gas Vision”.

Sea Opera (IMO: 9000883), whose sanctions-skirting tales were exposed in a series of leaked emails that included vivid instructions on AIS manipulation, was also among the gas carriers designated on Thursday.

The Cameroon-flagged vessel “has transported more than a million barrels of Iranian petroleum products to China since mid-2022”, said Ofac.

Shadow fleet tankers and Chinese terminals

In addition to LPG, Ofac and the State Department continued cracking down on shadow fleet tankers transporting Iranian crude and petroleum products, buyers of Iranian oil and petrochemicals, and port and terminals in China.

“The designations include some of the largest buyers of Iranian petrochemical products by volume and value, as well as the leadership of the companies involved in the trade,” the State Department said in a statement.

The joint action targeted 16 crude and product tankers, including six very large crude carriers. Ofac also sanctioned two tugs, accusing each of supporting “at least seven Iran-affiliated tankers” in STS operations in the Singapore Eastern Outer Port Limit.

The State Department designated Jiangyin Foreversun Chemical Logistics, a “China-based operator of a petrochemical terminal located in Jiangyin, China”. This marked the first terminal to be designated for receiving Iranian petrochemicals, the agency said (previous designations of terminals were for shipments of Iranian crude oil).

Foreversun “facilitated the port call and discharge” of Iranian petrochemicals from the US-sanctioned LPG carrier Elin (IMO: 9615092), which was designated nearly seven years ago.

The State Department also sanctioned Chinese national Gu Wenlong, Foereversun’s chief executive, and Hengyang Petrochemical Logistics Limited, a Singapore-registered company that provides petrochemical and logistics storage services and owns and controls Foreversun, according to the State Department.

Concurrently, Ofac sanctioned Shandong Jincheng Petrochemical Group Co, Ltd, a “teapot” refinery in China’s Shandong province that “has received more than a dozen shipments of Iranian crude oil worth hundreds of millions of dollars delivered by shadow fleet vessels”.

Ofac also targeted Rizhao Shihua Crude Oil Terminal Co, Ltd which operates the Lanshan Port’s Rizhao Shihua Crude Oil Terminal. The terminal “has accepted more than a dozen shadow fleet vessels”, Ofac said.

* Lloyd’s List defines an LPG carrier as being part of the LPG Shadow Fleet if it engages in one or more deceptive shipping practices indicating that it is involved in transporting sanctioned LPG or other commodities, or if it is sanctioned by the US, UK, or EU.

All the vessels sanctioned today featured in the Lloyd’s List Intelligence shadow fleet watchlists for LPG carriers and oil tankers. Seasearcher customers can activate their watchlists via this link.