US sanctions Indian and Turkish firms accused of helping Iran's shadow oil fleet
The US Treasury on 4 November sanctioned a network it says helped Iranian oil tankers sail under false flags, a day after Democrats won Congress on anger over the Iran war and living costs.
The United States has imposed fresh sanctions on companies and individuals based in India and Turkey accused of helping Iran evade sanctions, in the latest step in Washington's campaign to cut off Tehran's oil revenues. The Treasury Department announced the measures on Wednesday 4 November, saying they targeted what it called a vast criminal network run by India-based Suniel Kumar Sharma, his wife Jaspreet Preeti Shahid, and two other Indian citizens who head two of the couple's businesses, along with nine separate entities connected to Sharma. The network, according to the Treasury, aided Iranian vessels in sailing under false flags and gaining fake maritime certifications, allowing tankers carrying Iranian oil to move through international waters while disguising their true identity and cargo. The department also sanctioned Turkey-based Fugo Ground Services Inc for what it said was ongoing support for Iran's heavily sanctioned aviation sector. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the US government would continue to go after anyone who supported Tehran. The sanctions form part of the Trump administration's 'Operation Economic Outcast', which aims to cut off Iran's ability to sell oil to fund the war with the US and Israel. The timing was striking. The measures were unveiled a day after Democrats made huge gains in the midterm elections, winning control of both houses of Congress as voters expressed anger about the Iran war and its effect in pushing up US fuel prices. Trump himself has acknowledged that the war contributed to the Republican defeat, while defending the campaign. The sanctions tighten a squeeze that has already hit Iran's economy hard. The US reimposed its naval blockade of Iranian ports on 14 July after the breakdown of a memorandum of understanding between Washington and Tehran to end the war, and the Treasury said last week that its actions were driving the rial currency to new lows and sending domestic inflation to levels around 90 per cent. The wider conflict remains unresolved. The US and Israel launched their war with Iran with a massive wave of strikes in late February, and Iran responded with strikes on Israel and Gulf states that host US bases. Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has been severely disrupted since Tehran declared the strait closed, pushing global oil and gas prices sharply higher. More recently, the US carried out limited strikes on Iranian missile and air-defence installations on Qeshm Island, near the Strait of Hormuz, which Trump described as a minor attack on a newly built anti-aircraft facility. Iran's supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, has warned that any renewed US attack would draw a far wider war, while President Masoud Pezeshkian has said no one would benefit from a return to hostilities. Qatar is mediating between the two sides, and negotiators have discussed sanctions relief, an end to the naval blockade and the release of frozen funds, but no agreement has been announced. Iran is demanding those concessions, while Washington has said negotiations continue and no decision has been made to launch a renewed attack. For the firms named on Wednesday, the practical effect is immediate: their assets under US jurisdiction are frozen, and US persons are generally barred from dealing with them, while foreign banks and shippers that do business with them risk secondary sanctions. That is the mechanism Washington has used throughout the campaign to force third-country companies to choose between Iranian business and access to the US financial system. What happens next will depend on whether the new Democratic Congress changes the politics of the sanctions campaign, and whether the Qatar-mediated talks produce a deal that eases the blockade. Until then, the Treasury's message on Wednesday was that the economic pressure will continue, one network at a time, even as the political cost of the war at home has just been counted at the ballot box.Advertisement
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