U.S. Cracks Down on Iran's Oil Marketing Network in Hong Kong

After cracking down on the "shadow fleet" of gray-market tankers that serve Iran's oil exporters, the U.S. Treasury is now taking aim at the financiers that help Iranian oil traders move money. It has designated 22 different entities for violating U.S. sanctions on the Iranian energy trade, including companies in Hong Kong, the UAE and Turkey.
These firms stand accused of arranging oil sales for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF), the paramilitary and covert-operations arm of Iran's most powerful military division. The IRGC has vast reach within Iran's economy, and it finances much of its activity through the direct sale of Iranian oil to foreign buyers. The Qods Force, designated by the U.S. as a foreign terrorist organization, is heavily involved in marketing the IRGC's share of government oil.
To arrange sales and move money, the IRGC uses front companies. Refiners (primarily in China) make payments for Iranian oil to the front companies, which shuffle money between each other or spend it on IRGC activities, to include buying weapons and supporting terrorist proxy forces - like Yemen's Houthi rebels, who have long benefited from IRGC oil sales.
In a statement, Treasury laid out the details of a web of interconnected front companies that regularly did business with each other and with sanctioned groups, including representatives of Tehran-backed Hezbollah. The first group transacted with Turkish trader Pulcular Enerji, which bought multiple shipments of IRGC-supplied petroleum worth hundreds of millions of dollars. To make the buy, Pulcular worked with Hezbollah's oil trader Concepto Screen SAL Off-Shore. The money was handled by Hong Kong front companies Amito Trading Ltd. and Peakway Global Ltd., Treasury said. The department also named Hong Kong-based JTU Energy, Shelf Trading and Cetto International for allegedly handling bank transfers for Pulcular Enerji and the IRGC-QF.
Treasury also identified multiple Hong Kong trading houses as Qods Force fronts, including Ventus Trade, Marmerth, Future Resource Trading, Moon Imp & Exp. Co, Radix Trade, Macera Int'l, Queens Ring, Star OilGlobal, GAH Petrochemical Trading, Metallex, Mist Trading, Enka Trading, and Finesse Global Trading Ltd.
In the UAE, Treasury identified two suspect firms with IRGC ties, Bright Spot Goods Wholesalers LLC and Lavida Corporation Ltd.
The biggest player of all, according to the Treasury's release, is Turkish trading house Golden Globe Demir Celik Petrol Sanayi ve Ticaret Anonim Sirketi - a cover company for the oil headquarters of the IRGC. Golden Globe handles hundreds of millions of dollars in oil sales for the IRGC, Treasury alleges.
“The Iranian regime relies heavily on its shadow banking system to fund its destabilizing nuclear and ballistic missile weapons programs, rather than for the benedsfit of the Iranian people,” said Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent. “Treasury remains focused on disrupting this shadowy infrastructure that allows Iran to threaten the United States and our allies in the region.”