Turin, 29 July (LaPresse) – The United States has added the Persian Gulf Marine Insurance Company and the Hormuz Safe Marine Services Authority, two Iranian companies backed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), to its sanctions list “for operating coercive insurance schemes that extort money from international commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz”. This was reported by the US State Department in a statement. “These entities artificially create risks — including the threat of vessel seizures — and then charge commercial vessels for insurance cover against perils generated by the regime itself, generating revenue that funds the IRGC’s operations and Iran’s broader campaign of regional destabilisation,” the statement reads. The Department also states that the United States has sanctioned “eight companies that operate vessels used to transport Iranian crude oil and illicit petrochemical products to China and the United Arab Emirates. These vessels form part of Iran’s ‘shadow fleet’, on which the regime relies to circumvent sanctions”. “Today’s designations support the US Navy’s enforcement of a blockade on Iranian ports and coastlines and form part of an ongoing campaign that has already led to the sanctioning of over 100 vessels this year,” the statement emphasises.
Iran: US imposes sanctions on two companies accused of maritime extortion in the Strait of Hormuz
Turin, 29 July (LaPresse) – The United States has added the Persian Gulf Marine Insurance Company and the Hormuz Safe Marine Services Authority, two Iranian companies backed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), to its sanctions list “for operating coercive insurance schemes that extort money from international commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz”. This was reported by the US State Department in a statement. “These entities artificially create risks — including the threat of vessel seizures — and then charge commercial vessels for insurance cover against perils generated by the regime itself, generating revenue that funds the IRGC’s operations and Iran’s broader campaign of regional destabilisation,” the statement reads. The Department also states that the United States has sanctioned “eight companies that operate vessels used to transport Iranian crude oil and illicit petrochemical products to China and the United Arab Emirates. These vessels form part of Iran’s ‘shadow fleet’, on which the regime relies to circumvent sanctions”. “Today’s designations support the US Navy’s enforcement of a blockade on Iranian ports and coastlines and form part of an ongoing campaign that has already led to the sanctioning of over 100 vessels this year,” the statement emphasises.
