U.S. Treasury Sanctions Dozens in Sweep Targeting Iranian Oil‑Smuggling Network and Gold‑for‑Oil Channel Linked to Hizballah

The U.S. Treasury on Wednesday launched one of its most sweeping enforcement moves yet under President Donald Trump’s revived “maximum economic pressure” campaign on Iran, targeting what it calls a global oil‑smuggling “shipping empire” and a parallel gold‑for‑oil channel that allegedly funds Hizballah.

In an action announced by the Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC, the Treasury Department designated more than two dozen individuals, companies and vessels tied to Iranian oil‑shipping magnate Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani. It simultaneously blacklisted an Iranian national accused of running an Iran–Venezuela gold‑for‑oil scheme on behalf of Hizballah and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps–Qods Force, or IRGC‑QF.

“Treasury is moving aggressively with Economic Fury by targeting regime elites like the Shamkhani family that attempt to profit at the expense of the Iranian people,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement, using the administration’s label for its sanctions push.

The action, taken under Executive Order 13902, which targets key sectors of Iran’s economy, and the counterterrorism authority Executive Order 13224, as amended, blocks any property of the designated parties that falls under U.S. jurisdiction. U.S. persons are generally barred from dealing with them, and non‑U.S. firms face potential sanctions exposure for helping them move funds, goods or services.

Treasury describes Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani as heading a “multi‑billion dollar Iranian and Russian petroleum sales empire that enriches a family connected to the highest echelons of the Iranian regime at the expense of the Iranian people.” OFAC previously identified him as the son of Ali Shamkhani, a longtime senior Iranian security official and former head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council. Major outlets, citing Iranian state media, have reported that Ali Shamkhani was among senior officials killed in late‑February and early‑March strikes that also killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, according to the Associated Press and The New York Times.

The April 15 designations build on a July 30, 2025, package that Treasury described as its largest single Iran‑related sanctions action since Trump brought back maximum pressure. That earlier move hit more than 50 people and entities, and more than 50 vessels, linked to the Shamkhani network. Officials say the new round targets how the network has adapted since then.

According to Treasury, the Shamkhani operation relies on a web of front and affiliate companies — presented as legitimate administrative, consulting, shipping, commodities and logistics firms — to manage a fleet that moves Iranian and Russian oil and masks the money flows. The network “relies on a mix of crude oil, oil product, and liquified petroleum gas (LPG) tankers to generate billions of dollars for the Iranian and Russian regimes,” the department said.

Among the core commercial nodes singled out Wednesday is UAE‑based Oriel Group, described as a shipping, commodity and logistics firm under which many of the network’s operations fall. Corplinx Consultancy LLC FZ, also in the United Arab Emirates, allegedly provides administrative cover and web domains for the network’s financial and corporate activity.

OFAC also cited House of Shipping Investment FZCO in the UAE and House of Shipping Private Limited in India as shipping firms working with Shamkhani and his partners; Shipstar Shipchandling LLC in the UAE as a supplier of parts and provisions for network vessels; and Helmatic Consultancy DMCC in the UAE as having taken on some functions from Marvise SMC DMCC after that ship manager was sanctioned in July 2025.

Meritron DMCC, another UAE company, is described as a front used to clandestinely procure vessels and move sanctioned petroleum products. Treasury says Meritron tried between 2025 and early 2026 to buy two newbuild tankers in South Korea worth tens of millions of dollars, stepping into a transaction previously tied to already‑designated Teodor Shipping L.L.C.

The designations extend to individuals alleged to be key operators. OFAC named Chetan Prakash Balhotra, described as director of Meritron and a past representative of Marvise, and Tanjore Sunilkumar Srinivas, an official and procurement manager across multiple Shamkhani‑linked firms.

On the water, OFAC formally identified and blocked multiple tankers as property of designated entities. Those include AURA (IMO 9274563), a Mozambique‑flagged LPG tanker owned by Marshall Islands‑based Aura Lines Inc. Treasury said AURA has carried “more than three million barrels of Iranian LPG since the beginning of 2025” and has been part of the Shamkhani fleet since 2024.

India‑based Fleet Tanqo Private Limited, another newly sanctioned firm, manages five tankers — HORAE, VERSA, ANAYA, DAPHNE V and SILVAR — that Treasury says carried more than 20 cargoes of Russian petroleum products in 2025 for the network. Separately, Hapuka Marine Ltd., Nardie International S.A. and Anika Lines Inc. are linked to tankers that OFAC says have transported millions of barrels of Russian oil or refined products.

Officials say the network uses common sanctions‑evasion tactics such as ship‑to‑ship transfers, spoofing the automatic identification system transponders that signal a vessel’s location, so‑called “zombie” tankers with obscured ownership and frequent changes in nominal managers and operators.

In a parallel track, OFAC targeted what it described as a Hizballah‑linked Iran–South America gold and oil network following a joint investigation with Homeland Security Investigations.

At the center is Seyed Naiemaei Badroddin Moosavi, identified as an Iranian national, a Hizballah financier and an IRGC‑QF‑linked facilitator. Treasury alleges that for more than five years Moosavi ran a global financial network to evade sanctions on Iranian oil in support of Hizballah and the Iranian state.

According to Treasury, Moosavi smuggled Iranian oil to the former Venezuelan government of Nicolás Maduro in exchange for gold, including gold purchased below market prices. That gold was then sent back to Iran for the IRGC‑QF as “part of a financing channel for Hizballah,” transported on Mahan Air flights to Hizballah members in Tehran, including designated financier Ali Qasir, and then smuggled to Türkiye for sale.

Moosavi is also alleged to have worked with Venezuelan narcotics trafficker Tarek Zaidan El Aissami Maddah and shipping facilitator Viktor Artemov, both already sanctioned by the United States, using the same types of ship‑to‑ship transfers, AIS spoofing and zombie tankers highlighted in the Shamkhani case. He is tied to sales of Iranian liquefied petroleum gas and crude oil, including through firms such as Caspian Petrochemical FZE and Pearl Petrochemical FZE alongside previously designated Iran gas magnate Seyed Emamjomeh.

OFAC designated Moosavi under the counterterrorism order for providing material support to Hizballah. It also sanctioned A.C.S. Global BV in the Netherlands, ACS Trading LLC in the UAE and Lotus Universal LLC in the UAE, describing them as closely affiliated companies that supported or were controlled by Moosavi.

For global shipping, trading and finance firms, the action raises immediate compliance stakes. Ports and insurers that follow U.S. sanctions are likely to refuse services to the named tankers, while banks face heightened anti‑money‑laundering and “know your customer” obligations around Iran‑ and Russia‑linked oil trades. Under OFAC’s rules, even entities that are not explicitly listed can be treated as blocked if one or more designated persons own 50% or more of them.

The Treasury action is part of a broader strategy launched February 4, 2025, when Trump signed National Security Presidential Memorandum 2. That directive ordered agencies to use sanctions and enforcement tools to drive Iran’s oil exports toward zero and cut funding for proxy groups such as Hizballah and the IRGC‑QF. Treasury says that since then, OFAC has sanctioned more than 1,000 people, vessels and aircraft tied to Iran and its partners.

The Justice Department has moved in tandem. On March 6, 2026, it filed civil forfeiture complaints in federal court in Washington seeking more than $15.3 million alleged to be linked to an illicit Iranian oil distribution network controlled by Shamkhani, explicitly tying the case to OFAC’s actions. “Under President Trump's leadership, we have ZERO tolerance for foreign actors using the U.S. financial system to prop up our nation's enemies,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said then.

Violations of U.S. sanctions can bring civil penalties on a strict‑liability basis, meaning they can be imposed even without proof a company knew it was dealing with a blacklisted party. In more serious cases, they can carry criminal charges.