US Sanctions Indian National Allegedly Linked to Iranian Oil

A United Arab Emirates-based Indian national and four of his firms have been sanctioned by the United States for their alleged involvement in trade and transportation of Iranian crude oil and petroleum products. According to the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the Indian national—Jugwinder Singh Brar—owns multiple shipping companies that cumulatively have nearly 30 vessels, many of which operate as part of Iran’s “shadow fleet”.

Apart from Brar, four of his companies—India-based Global Tankers and B and P Solutions, and UAE-based Prime Tankers and Glory International—have also been sanctioned by Washington as part of the Trump administration’s “maximum pressure campaign” on Iran, which has now seen five rounds of sanctions against individuals and firms in less than three months. For instance, in February, the OFAC and the US Department of State had imposed sanctions on over 30 persons and vessels in various countries, including four India-based firms . Then in March, the US sanctioned a Chinese refinery for buying and processing large volumes of Iranian oil, which is under US sanctions that were imposed in 2018 during the first Trump presidency.

According to the OFAC, Brar’s four firms that have been sanctioned own and operate vessels that “transported Iranian oil on behalf of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) and the Iranian military”.

The OFAC claimed that Brar’s vessels engage in high-risk ship-to-ship (STS) transfers of Iranian petroleum in waters off Iraq, Iran, the UAE, and the Gulf of Oman, following which these cargoes reach other facilitators who blend the oil or fuel with products from other countries and falsify shipping documents to conceal links to Iran. The US agency also accused Brar of coordinating with the “illicit shipping associates” of Sa’id al-Jamal, who is claimed to be an Iran-backed financier for the Yemen-based Houthi militia.

“The Iranian regime relies on its network of unscrupulous shippers and brokers like Brar and his companies to enable its oil sales and finance its destabilizing activities…The United States remains focused on disrupting all elements of Iran’s oil exports, particularly those who seek to profit from this trade,” said US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

“OFAC is committed to aggressively targeting Iran’s oil supply chain, including imposing sanctions on those enabling Iran’s export of its oil to key third countries and the wider international market. These shipments rely on an intricate and extensive web of shell companies, clandestine smuggling, STS transfers, oil storage and blending, and document falsification,” the OFAC said.

The shadow fleet refers to vessels involved in Russian, Iranian, and Venezuelan crude oil and petroleum products trade. With Western fleet operators loath to get involved in the oil trade of these countries due to sanctions of varying degrees, obscure operators from countries like Greece, Russia, and China, and tax havens like Marshall Islands, Liberia, and Panama have emerged as the major players. The oil and gas industries of Russia, Iran, and Venezuela have been under sanctions or restrictions from international powers, particularly the US.

A large number of opaque fleet tankers have complex and obscure ownership structures and are registered in geographies with lax regulatory oversight. Often, such vessels, which are quite old, operate with substandard insurance and certifications.

Even prior to Trump’s administration’s campaign against Iran’s oil trade, a few Indian companies had been placed under sanctions for involvement in sanctioned energy transportation and trade through the so-called shadow fleet of tankers. For instance, in October, India-based Gabbaro Ship Services was sanctioned for alleged involvement in transportation of Iranian oil. In August and September, three India-registered shipping firms were sanctioned by the US over their alleged involvement in transporting liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Russia’s Arctic LNG 2 project, which is under American sanctions.

Most of the Indian companies that have been sanctioned by the US over purported violations of energy sector-related sanctions appear to be small and hitherto little-known entities set up in recent years, and not large enterprises. It is in line with the trend observed in other countries where shipping entities have been sanctioned for facilitating trade that is restricted or under sanctions. - Indian Express