A United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based Indian national, Jugwinder Singh, has been sanctioned by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, claiming many vessels owned by the shipping tycoon operated as Iran’s "shadow fleet."
The US statement said two UAE and India-based entities that own and operate Brar's vessels that transport Iranian oil have also been sanctioned.
According to the statement, Brar’s vessels engaged in "high-risk ship-to-ship (STS) transfers of Iranian petroleum in waters off Iraq, Iran, the UAE, and the Gulf of Oman." These cargoes were then taken to other facilitators who blended the oil or fuel with products from other countries. Thereby, they could falsify shipping documents to conceal links to Iran. This way, the oil could reach the international market.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the Iranian regime relied on its network of unscrupulous shippers and brokers like Brar and his companies to sell oil and thereby fund its "destabilising activities."
Brar is the owner and director of UAE-based companies Prime Tankers LLC (Prime Tankers) and Glory International FZ-LLC (Glory International). He owns, operates or manages over 30 petroleum tankers, the majority of which are Handysize tankers that stick to coastal waters and carry a fraction of the cargo of larger tankers.
These small ships were used to load Iranian oil from other "shadow fleet" or to load fuel smuggled from other fishing vessels. The process is a long one as it involves numerous transfers to fill a single tanker.
Brar is also said to have sought the help of Houthi financial official Sa’id al-Jamal’s illicit shipping associates to evade sanctions, especially on the use of smaller vessels to hide Iranian oil smuggling in and around the Persian Gulf and Khor al Zubair, Iraq. The US claimed that Brar's company managed the vessel 'NADIYA' which smuggled oil on the behelf of Iranian military.
Brar’s smaller vessels also disabled the Automatic Identification System (AIS) or manipulated data to appear elsewhere. His vessels carried out the ship-t-ship transfers in the waters off Iraq’s Khor Al Zubair and Umm Qasr ports, and near Iran, the UAE, and the Gulf of Oman.
According to the US, Brar engaged in this activity for his profit because of its availability at lower prices due to the sanctions risks. Many of Brar’s vessels have also made frequent port calls at oil and gas terminals in India.
