Transporting Iranian Oil: US Sanctions Indian National, 2 India-Based Entities
The United States on Thursday sanctioned United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based Indian national and two India-based entities for allegedly shipping Iranian oil. US Department of the Treasury claimed that they were operating as part of Iran’s “shadow fleet”, as per media report.
Jugwinder Singh Brar, based in UAE, owns multiple shipping companies that boast a fleet of nearly 30 vessels, many of which operate as part of Iran’s “shadow fleet”, the US Department of the Treasury said in a statement. In addition to his UAE-based businesses, Brar owns or controls India-based shipping company Global Tankers Private Limited and petrochemical sales company B and P Solutions Private Limited.
Global Tankers is believed to be the owner or manager of a number of vessels in Brar’s fleet. Probably, Brar has also transported Iranian petroleum for his own personal profit because of its availability at lower prices due to the sanctions risk such cargoes carry. Many of Brar’s vessels that are known to have carried Iranian petroleum make frequent port calls at oil and gas terminals in India, including major ports located near two of B and P Solutions Private Limited’s branches.
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As per the report, 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, the agency said. It also said that these cargoes then reach other facilitators who blend the oil or fuel with products from other countries and falsify shipping documents to conceal links to Iran, allowing these cargoes to reach the international market.
“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,” Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent said, adding that the US remains focused on disrupting all elements of Iran’s oil exports, particularly those who seek to profit from this trade.
Brar is the owner and director of UAE-based companies Prime Tankers LLC and Glory International FZ-LLC. Through his companies, he operates, or manages a fleet of nearly 30 oil and petroleum product tankers, the majority of which are Handysize tankers that stick to coastal waters and carry a fraction of the cargo of larger tankers.
Brar uses these smaller vessels for STS transfers to load Iranian oil from other “shadow fleet” vessels or to load oil or fuel that is smuggled from smaller commercial and fishing vessels. These operations can sometimes take days to complete due to the numerous transfers required to fill a single tanker, the agency said.
Also Read: How Iran Deals With US Sanctions
The report also said that Brar has coordinated with Houthi financial official Sa’id al-Jamal’s illicit shipping associates on sanctions evasion tactics, specifically the use of smaller vessels in lieu of large oil tankers to obfuscate Iranian oil smuggling in and around the Persian Gulf and Khor al Zubair, Iraq, in the same manner.
The agency added that Brar’s smaller vessels also helps to cover the movement of Iranian cargoes through STS transfers with sanctioned vessels, often while their Automatic Identification System (AIS) is disabled or manipulated to make the vessels falsely appear to be elsewhere.
Reportedly, Brar’s vessels have been observed following high-risk STS patterns on numerous occasions in the waters off Iraq’s Khor Al Zubair and Umm Qasr ports, and near Iran, the UAE, and the Gulf of Oman.
Facilitators blend the Iranian oil or fuel with products from other countries and falsify shipping documents to conceal links to Iran, allowing these cargoes to reach the international market via larger tankers.
(With inputs from agencies)
