The US Department of the Treasury announced the largest package of sanctions against Iran since 2018. More than 115 entities were sanctioned — individuals and legal entities, as well as dozens of ships involved in transporting oil and petroleum products from Iran and Russia. According to the department, the network led by Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani, the son of the advisor to Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Shamkhani, who was sanctioned by the US in 2020, generated billions of dollars for the regime in Tehran using a chain of shell companies and offshore structures. This network transports oil and petroleum products from Iran and Russia, primarily to the Chinese market. The revenue went to both the businessman himself and the state structures of Iran, including the Ministry of Defense and related companies.
According to the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), Hossein used fictitious names, including Hector and Hugo Hayek, and obtained foreign passports to conduct business on behalf of fictitious companies.
His network included firms in the UAE, Panama, Switzerland, Romania, Turkey, and the Marshall Islands. Some of them were involved not only in oil trading but also in supplying missiles, drones, and dual-use technologies to Russia.
As stated by US Secretary Scott Bessent, «the Shamkhani family's shipping empire demonstrates how the Iranian regime's elite uses their position to accumulate vast wealth and finance the regime's dangerous behavior».