The Treasury Department has sanctioned an Indian couple accused of helping Iran evade international restrictions on its oil trade by providing Tehran with bogus registrations for its shadow fleet of tankers.
For more than a decade, Suniel Kumar Sharma and his wife, Jaspreet Preeti Shahid, have created fake companies that pose as the flag registries and maritime service providers of countries such as Guyana, Aruba, and Mali, officials said.
The companies sold fraudulent registrations and certificates to ships carrying illicit Iranian oil. Most of the governments publicly disavowed the fraudulent registries.
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False flags allow commercial ships engaging in illicit activity to evade international regulations aimed at ensuring crew safety and safeguarding against environmental harm, officials said.
“Falsely flagged vessels carry no valid protection and indemnity insurance, meaning that Iranian shadow fleet vessels operating under false flags could potentially cause billions of dollars in damages to the economies of the countries in whose territorial waters they operate,” Treasury Department officials said in a statement on Wednesday.
The Treasury Department said it is targeting 13 people and companies that are part of the Sharma network as part of “Operation Economic Outcast.” It is designed to isolate the Iranian regime by severing its remaining economic lifelines.
“As we have said many times, under Operation Economic Outcast, you are either with us or against us,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement. “We know where you are, and we will sanction those who continue supporting the Iranian regime, whether by land, sea, or air.”
Treasury Department investigators have mapped the networks, facilitators, and financial channels that Iran uses to smuggle oil, evade sanctions, and fund terror, officials said.
“Treasury is targeting any source of the regime’s illicit revenues, as well as its sanctions evasion schemes to move funds,” officials said.
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