The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said Friday it is designating a network of individuals, entities, and vessels responsible for shipping hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of Iranian-origin liquid petroleum gas (LPG)⸺intentionally disguised as Omani LPG⸺to end users in South and East Asia. The network used front companies in the United Arab Emirates and China, foreign bank accounts, and Iran’s shadow fleet to move millions of barrels of Iranian LPG while concealing its Iranian origin and evading U.S. sanctions. OFAC is taking this action to expose the complicit actors enabling an economic lifeline for Iran while exploiting commercial infrastructure to obfuscate their actions.
“Iran’s economy is floundering and its military is decimated,” said Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent. “Through Economic Fury, Treasury will continue to sever Iran’s shadow fleet, shadow banking networks, and access to global trade.”
OFAC is also taking action today against Iranian exchange house Mehrdad Geramian Nik and Partners Company and its leadership, who have moved hundreds of millions of dollars of foreign currency on behalf of sanctioned Iranian banks. Iran’s foreign exchange system relies heavily on selected brokers and rahbar companies, which use overseas shell and front companies to conceal Iranian connections, bypass sanctions, and move funds through accounts typically held outside Iran on behalf of Iranian bank customers.
Collectively, Iranian exchange houses facilitate billions of dollars in foreign currency transactions each year, enabling the regime and its armed forces to evade sanctions, abuse the international financial system, and move funds derived from oil and petrochemical sales. OFAC has recently taken multiple actions to dismantle Iran’s network of brokers, including against Radin Exchange, Arz Iran Exchange, Opal Exchange, and Amin Exchange. Today’s actions further restrict the Iranian regime’s access to revenue it uses to develop weapons, support terrorist proxies, and enrich regime insiders abroad at the expense of the Iranian people.
The Treasury Department remains committed to maintaining maximum pressure on Iran and to targeting the regime’s ability to generate, move, and repatriate funds. Today’s action is being taken pursuant to E.O. 13902, which targets persons operating in Iran’s financial and petroleum sectors. These designations will advance Treasury’s Economic Fury and build on a series of OFAC actions targeting Iran’s shadow banking and petroleum sales networks.
