By Al-Fassel | 2024-03-14

Recently implemented US sanctions are undermining the ability of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force (IRGC-QF) to fund its activities through the illicit sale of goods.

The most recent wave of sanctions target IRGC-QF-backed Houthi financial facilitator Said al-Jamal and the owners of two ships his network uses to transport Iranian commodities.

Palau-flagged Reneez, which is owned and managed by Marshall Islands-based Reneez Shipping Limited, has transported tens of thousands of metric tons of Iranian commodities for al-Jamal's network, the US Treasury said March 6.

Al-Jamal's network often uses falsified cargo documents to mask the Iran-origin cargo onboard and to obfuscate its ties to Iran, it said.

Previous sanctions February 27 targeted the Panama-flagged Artura, which falsified its Automatic Identification System (AIS) to indicate it was traveling north from Singapore while the vessel was in the process of conducting a ship-to-ship (STS) transfer with the Panama-flagged Eternal Fortune.

The latest sanctions also designate the Eternal Fortune, which is owned by Hong Kong-based Hongkong Unitop Group Ltd, for emitting a false AIS signal while receiving the STS transfer from the Artura.

"The IRGC-QF and the Houthis continue to rely on the illicit sale of commodities to finance their attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden," said Treasury official Brian Nelson.

The Houthis over the past several months have wreaked havoc on the global economy with ongoing attacks on international maritime commerce in the vial shipping lane and worsened the already dire humanitarian situation in Yemen.

"The United States remains resolved to hold accountable those who enable these destabilizing activities," Nelson said.