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Washington announces its first sanctions on the Iraqi oil sector
7/3/2025
- Baghdad
The US Treasury Department announced on Thursday that it had imposed sanctions on a network that smuggles
Iranian oil under the guise of Iraqi law, confirming that the network is run by Iraqi businessman Salim Ahmed Saeed.
The ministry stated in a statement seen by Shafaq News Agency that "a network of companies run by Iraqi businessman Salim Ahmed Saeed has been purchasing and shipping billions of dollars' worth of Iranian oil, disguised or blended with Iraqi oil, since at least 2020."
"Treasury will continue to target Tehran's sources of revenue and intensify economic pressure to disrupt the regime's access to the financial resources that fuel its destabilizing activities," Treasury Secretary Scott Besant said in the statement.
The US Treasury Department also imposed sanctions on several vessels accused of being involved in secretly delivering Iranian oil, intensifying pressure on what it called Iran's "shadow fleet."
The US Treasury also issued sanctions on several senior officials and one entity linked to the Hezbollah-controlled financial institution, Al-Qard al-Hassan.
The ministry noted that "the officials conducted transactions worth millions of dollars that ultimately benefited Hezbollah, but which it withheld."
Earlier, the Iraqi Oil Minister stated in a televised interview that Iran had forged oil tanker documents, using Iraq's name to export oil. He asserted that the Iraqi government had informed Washington that it was not responsible for these shipments and that the State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO) was monitoring all its tankers via satellite.
