The United States has imposed sanctions on an Iraqi businessman accused of helping Tehran sidestep restrictions on its oil exports, marking the latest escalation in Washington’s crackdown on Iran’s energy trade, Bloomberg reported.
The Treasury Department said Waleed al-Samarra’i, a dual Iraqi and St. Kitts & Nevis national, operated a fleet of vessels and shell companies that disguised Iranian oil as Iraqi crude before selling it abroad, generating hundreds of millions of dollars annually for Iran and its partners.
“Iraq cannot become a safe haven for terrorists, which is why the United States is working to counter Iran’s influence in the country,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement. “We remain committed to an oil supply free from Iran and will continue our efforts to disrupt the ongoing attempts by Tehran to evade US sanctions.”
The action builds on sweeping sanctions announced in late July against Hossein Shamkhani, the son of a senior adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. That move—described by officials as the largest Iran-related action in seven years—targeted dozens of companies and tankers accused of moving billions of dollars in oil from Iran and Russia through complex networks of shell firms.
According to the Treasury, al-Samarra’i’s ships, flagged in Liberia and owned through Marshall Islands-based entities, conducted ship-to-ship transfers in the Persian Gulf and Iraqi ports, blending Iranian and Iraqi oil before marketing it overseas.
