The “Al-Sharq – Bloomberg” website wrote:
Just two weeks after the US Department of Justice targeted Hossein Shamkhani’s vast shipping empire, another arm of the US government, the Treasury Department, has offered the network a real breathing space. This contributed to making the sanctioned Iranian oil tycoon among the first to benefit financially from the war waged by the United States and Israel on Iran.
Shamkhani’s network of companies has helped keep oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz, the vital waterway that Tehran has effectively closed to most commercial crude shipments in recent weeks, as well as from floating stocks anchored off the coast, according to sources familiar with Iran’s complex shipping operations and tanker tracking data seen by Bloomberg.
Iran’s control of the Strait of Hormuz allowed its ships to pass through this sensitive point, while impeding the passage of oil flows from other producers in the Gulf through the shipping lane, leading to supply shortages and rising global crude prices.
Trump’s erratic policies are a gain for Tehran
At the same time, the fluctuations in the policies of the administration of US President Donald Trump contributed to Iranian oil traders achieving unexpected gains. Following actions taken by the Department of Justice to confiscate more than $15 million linked to the Shamkhani empire, the Treasury Department issued a temporary sanctions waiver that allowed ships linked to Iran, including some affiliated with him, to transport and sell oil shipments that had already been loaded by March 20, with the aim of curbing rising prices by enhancing supply.
Thus, sanctioned Iranian oil went from being sold at deep discounts before the war to currently trading at a slight premium over Brent crude. The price of oil reached about $110 per barrel on Thursday, after Trump warned of a possible escalation in the conflict in the coming weeks.
Since the beginning of the war, at least two ships belonging to the Shamkhani network, the Kush and the Breeze, have entered or exited the Strait of Hormuz, with more than a dozen other ships anchored on both sides of the strait, according to data compiled by maritime information collection company Pole Star Global. The Shamkhani network also had at least four ships, including two giant oil tankers, off the coast of Malaysia when the war began, and about 20 ships in other parts of the Gulf, likely waiting to load Iranian shipments or receive them from stockpiles off Oman.
A second network run by Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei also benefited from an exemption from the US Treasury Department, according to people familiar with commercial activities who requested anonymity due to the privacy of the information.
Washington uses the Shadow Fleet
The shift in the Trump team’s policy reveals a dilemma facing the White House as it attempts to contain the economic shock resulting from the expanding conflict. Oil prices have jumped by more than 50% since the outbreak of the war, prompting American officials to rely again on the same shadow fleet that they included on the sanctions list last year, and which they consider to be one of the main pillars of Iran’s illegal oil and weapons trade.
In this context, David Tannenbaum, a former official at the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, who studied the Shamkhani network, said, “The United States gave the green light to networks that we have worked tirelessly to undermine over the past decade. This represents a major payment estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars, at a time when the shadow fleet was on the verge of collapse.”
For his part, Shamkhani did not respond to a request for comment via email, nor did Khamenei, who was contacted through the Iranian embassies in the UAE and the United Kingdom, in addition to his country’s mission to the United Nations.
On the other hand, the US Treasury Department did not respond to a request for comment, but a Trump administration official said that the United States will continue to apply a policy of “maximum pressure” on Tehran, in parallel with the continuation of its military operations.
The Iranian elite profits from sanctions
“Khamenei” and “Shamkhani,” both sons of influential Iranian families, lost their parents in the first phase of the American-Israeli bombing campaign, namely the former Supreme Leader “Ali Khamenei” and his long-time prominent advisor “Ali Shamkhani.”
The trajectory of the two sons, who have been sanctioned by the United States, reflects a broader pattern within the Iranian elite. A series of Bloomberg investigations showed how influential families succeeded in converting their political legacy into global capital, by purchasing real estate assets abroad, obtaining foreign passports, and opening bank accounts in the West, at a time when the average Iranian citizen is facing a deteriorating currency, rising prices, fuel shortages, and most recently, war.
In a way, the sanctions have contributed to the concentration of Iranian oil trade in the hands of political cronies, as small independent traders avoid the resulting legal risks. The war deepened this dynamic; Tehran’s control of the Strait of Hormuz has strengthened the influence of commercial intermediaries, according to Narges Bagghali, an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies and co-author of the book “How Sanctions Work: Iran and the Impact of Economic Warfare.”
Baggley said, “The networks that were able to withstand the sanctions regime succeeded in doing so precisely because of their connection to the Revolutionary Guard and government security services. This connection served as a guarantee for them. Their advantages have become clearer in light of the control over Hormuz and the retreat from the sanctions at the present time.”
Global shipping fluctuations
At sea, the Shamkhani Group’s influence provides a clear glimpse into the vagaries of global shipping. While its ships continue to pass shipments through the military-style Strait of Hormuz, they also face risks further afield, including the recent Ukrainian attack that targeted its Turkish oil tanker, Altura, in the Black Sea.
In parallel, the US-Israeli war on Iran changes the map of the spread of this network. Some of the employees were transferred from the Emirates, where Iranian strikes damaged the ICD Brookfield Place corporate tower in Dubai, after it was a major center for companies affiliated with Shamkhani, to Oman and Turkey, which reflects how the network of companies is adapting, according to people familiar with the matter.
The war also accelerated a redeployment process that had already begun before its outbreak, with a number of employees transferred before the conflict, according to people familiar with the matter.
Brokers’ profits from oil
The temporary US exemption, which applies to more than 100 million barrels of oil transported by sea already, has created a rare arbitrage window, with traders able to sell barrels at high prices in a market suffering from tight supplies.
According to Mayad Maleki, a former official in the US Treasury Department who played a pivotal role in the sanctions file on Iran, the largest share of the money goes to commercial intermediaries such as Shamkhani and Khamenei, and not to the Iranian state itself. They benefit from the disappearance of the price discount that characterized Iranian crude, which was usually sold for between $8 and $12 per barrel less than Brent crude before the outbreak of the conflict, in recent weeks.
“The temporary license issued by OFAC reduces the complexities and costs associated with passing these shipments through supply chains,” Maleki explained. He added, “The network combines the gains of rising prices with the savings in compliance costs, as Tehran gets a portion of the revenues, but brokers and traders are the biggest beneficiaries.”
