UANI Efforts Drive October’s Tanker Designations, Targeting Iran’s Illicit Oil Trade

(New York, NY) – United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) CEO Ambassador Mark D. Wallace released the following statement in response to the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s announcement on Thursday of targeted sanctions on the Iranian petroleum and petrochemical sectors, and those announced last week following Iran’s missile attack on Israel on October 1:  

“UANI welcomes the Biden administration’s recent actions to deny the Iranian regime financial resources that would be used to fund and support its nuclear program, missile development, and terrorism. Specifically, we commend the designating of 31 vessels for their involvement in the shipments of Iranian oil and related products in defiance of American sanctions. 
 

“UANI has previously identified and tracked 24 of these vessels - part of Iran’s “Ghost Armada” which carries Iran’s illicit oil to buyers around the world - as they evaded U.S. sanctions and exploited regulatory loopholes. We have consistently called for strong action against these and other vessels, and the states, companies, owners, and operators who ultimately provide resources to the Islamic Republic through this evasion of U.S. sanctions. 

 

“According to the administration’s own estimates, Iran’s oil revenues have tripled since 2020. Tens of billions in annual petrodollars constitute a windfall that is the critical lifeline for each of Iran’s main malign activities: the regime’s nuclear, ballistic missiles and drone programs, sponsorship of terrorism, and sweeping apparatus of internal repression. These are all heavily subsidized by mainly Chinese oil buyers.  

“The Biden administration must make good on its consistent pledge to make use of the many instruments of U.S. national power to deter, confront, and ensure Iran fundamentally alters its behavior. Isolated action is simply not enough.”

 To read UANI’s “Ghost Armada” resource, please click here.