Israel imposed sanctions against 18 Iranian tankers: some of them were transporting Russian oil

For the first time, Israel applied sanctions against the Iranian tanker fleet – 18 vessels with a total deadweight of almost 1.9 million tons were included in the sanctions list.

As Israeli officials explained to S&P Global, the country imposed the sanctions to stop Iran’s funding of its foreign terrorist proxies.

According to Israel, the sanctioned tankers could have been used by Iran’s Quds Force, a branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, to transport Iranian oil to Syria. In this country, its processing was carried out, and after the sale of oil products to foreign buyers, the proceeds were directed to the financing of Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis.

According to S&P Global’s own monitoring, 12 of the 18 penalized vessels were also carrying oil cargoes from Russia, Iraq, the UAE and other countries.

According to the agency, the actual destinations of the vessels may have been hidden, with 15 of the 18 vessels confirmed or suspected to have turned off the automatic AIS identification system during their operations in the past two years.

The official declined to comment on whether Israel’s navy would physically arrest vessels as they transit the eastern Mediterranean, citing the sensitivity of the issue.

USM previously reported that Western companies continue to insure tankers carrying Russian oil.

The photo is illustrative.