The US Treasury Department has sanctioned another swathe of companies, individuals and ships that are accused of being a part of the shipping network of Houthi financial official Sa’id al-Jamal.
The move adds to Washington’s continued effort to rein in al-Jamal, who US officials accuse of funding Houthi attacks on ships with he support of the shadowy Qods Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
In addition to eight vessels, the latest names added to sanctions lists include two captains and several shipowners and managers.
Acting Treasury undersecretary Bradley Smith said the Yemen-based militant group remains reliant on al-Jamal’s international network to transport and sell Iranian oil to provide revenue to the Houthis.
“Treasury remains committed to utilising all available tools to disrupt this key source of illicit revenue that enables the Houthis’ destabilising activities,” he said in a statement.
Among the newest targets of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is Yevhen Skriabin, a Ukrainian national based in the United Arab Emirates linked to several of the newly sanctioned ships.
The department connected Skriabin to UAE-based Eco Max Trading and maritime subsidiary Eco Max, which were also blacklisted alongside six vessels under their control, including three that Treasury linked to illicit Iranian oil shipments.
The newly listed Eco Max vessels are four chemical tankers: the 42,700-dwt Marbel (built 2001), 40,000-dwt chemical tanker Trophy (built 2001), 40,200-dwt Gratia (built 2003) and 40,000-dwt Juvenis (built 2003).
Also named were two Eco Max product carriers: the 47,000-dwt Onyx (built 2002) and the 39,500-dwt Liana (built 2002).
Treasury said Skriabin also controls Marshall Islands-registered Motionavigations, which it added to its sanctions list for owning a vessel used by al-Jamal’s network to move Iranian fuel oil. The unnamed ship’s manager, UAE-based Indo Gulf Ship Management, was also sanctioned.
US officials also blacklisted Indo Gulf managing director Rahul Rattanlal Warikoo Rattanlal, who is based in India and the UAE, and the company’s technical manager, Dipankar Mohan Keot, a Hong Kong and India-based Indian national
And they went after the 24,100-dwt chemical tanker Kukki (built 2004), which Indo Gulf manages.
Also among the newly-sanctioned ships is the 163,000-dwt suezmax tanker Kapok (built 2005).
Its owner, Marshall Island’s registered Changtai Shipping, was also blacklisted for carrying over 1m barrels of crude on behalf of al-Jamal and Turkish-based businessman Abdi Nasir Ali Mahamud, who has already been sanctioned for alleged Houthi affiliation.
Contact details for Changtai and Motonavigations were not immediately available. A phone number for Sharjah-based Indo Gulf rang unanswered, and Eco Max Trading did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
Treasury also named two captains of previously sanctioned vessels for carrying out a ship-to-ship transfer allegedly arranged by al-Jamal’s network.
Iranian captain Ali Barkhordar was master of the 151,000-dwt tanker Yorgos (built 1998), while Pakistani Wahid Ullah Durrani was master of the 160,000-dwt Olympics (built 2001).
