US blacklists tanker after ship-to-ship transfer with ‘fake’ vessel linked to Houthi financial fixer

The US has blacklisted an elderly tanker suspected of hauling Iranian oil to China after a ship-to-ship transfer with a “fake” tanker.

The Panama-flagged, 160,400-dwt Lady Sofia (built 2001) received the cargo on 31 January off Singapore from a tanker that was falsely broadcasting its location and disguised as a fictitious tanker, the Amor, according to US Treasury officials.

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The “fake” tanker, the 150,900-dwt Mehle (built 1999), had been blacklisted earlier that month because it was said to be linked to the network of alleged Houthi financial fixer Sa’id al-Jamal, the Treasury said. Al-Jamal has hit with US sanctions in 2021.

The US listed the Lady Sofia and the owner, Marshall Islands-based Vishnu Inc, on Friday over the STS transfer. Equasis lists the owner and operator in a suburb of Mumbai, India.

The tanker was stopped off the coast of northeast China on Monday with more than 1m barrels of oil on board, according to Kpler ship tracking data.

The US sanctions enforcement body, the Office of Foreign Assets Control, said the shipment was for the benefit of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force and the Houthi fixer.

“The US will continue to target the key funding streams that threaten civilians and peaceful international trade,” said Treasury official Brian Nelson.

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The Mehle was targeted on 12 January by the US along with its owner, Hong Kong-based Cielo Maritime. Formerly trading as White Trader and then as FC Star, the Panama-flagged Mehle has been with Cielo since May 2023.

Claire Jungman of United Against Nuclear Iran, which tracks tankers after the reimposition of sanctions by the US government in 2018, said the move “underscores China’s troubling role” in backing Iran.

“Why does China continue to bolster Iran’s terrorist activities by purchasing its oil? It’s time to confront and halt these transactions that empower aggression,” she said in a tweet.

Beijing opposes unilateral sanctions and has consistently spoken against them at the United Nations.