The United States has announced new sanctions aimed at disrupting efforts to disguise the origins of Iranian oil through blending with Iraqi crude. On September 2, the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) targeted the network of Waleed Khaled Hameed al-Samarra’i, a businessman with dual citizenship in Iraq and St. Kitts & Nevis, along with nine Liberian-flagged tankers.
According to U.S. officials, the network generates about $300 million annually by blending Iranian oil with Iraqi oil and selling it as solely Iraqi in origin. The scheme relies on ship-to-ship transfers in the Arabian Gulf and Iraqi ports, often carried out at night. The vessels also engage in AIS spoofing and deliberate gaps in location reporting to conceal their activities.
Al-Samarra’i’s operations are managed through two UAE-based companies, Babylon Navigation DMCC and Galaxy Oil FZ LLC, and a group of tankers, Adena, Liliana, Camilla, Delfina, Bianca, Roberta, Alexandra, Bellagio, and Paola, registered under Liberian flags but owned by shell companies in the Marshall Islands.
This is the second network sanctioned in recent months; in July, the U.S. took similar action against Salim Ahmed Said’s group. Washington says the sanctions reflect its commitment to curbing Iran’s oil trade and limiting its economic influence in Iraq.
Iraqi authorities have also taken steps, issuing a ban on several tankers accused of being involved in blending operations. Despite these measures, experts note that Iran continues to adapt, seeking new ways to bypass sanctions on its oil exports.
