US sanctions Iran oil trustee tied to millions of barrels a month

The US sanctioned Iran-linked banks and intermediaries on Oct. 16, a Prokerala news article said, citing Treasury allegations that one Dubai-based oil trustee shipped millions of barrels overseas each month.

For banks, the risk extends beyond Iran: Treasury warned of secondary sanctions, while its alleged “hundreds of millions” in financial flows, with no period specified, compare with a $1 billion Qatar-Hong Kong fund Atlas360 reported on Oct. 15.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the designations formed part of Operation Economic Outcast, announced on Aug. 24. “The noose is tightening around Iran's economy, and not even Iran's so-called allies can save it,” Bessent said.

Treasury said the networks had moved “hundreds of millions of dollars through shell companies and foreign-exchange specialists across the Middle East and Asia.” The department did not give a period for that dollar amount in the reported material.

Sayyed Ruhollah Razavi, listed as living in Dubai, was among those designated. Treasury described him as “one of the top oil trustees on whom the Iranian regime relies to sell oil and repatriate the revenue.”

Before the US blockade on Iranian oil exports, Treasury said, Razavi was responsible for “shipping millions of barrels of oil overseas each month” for the National Iranian Oil Company. Treasury also said networks moved funds through Hong Kong to the UAE and Türkiye, where they were converted into gold and cash and then carried on Mahan Air flights to Iran and groups it described as terrorist proxies.

The designations also reached Hong Kong-based Elitesphere Trading Co., Limited, which Treasury said moved funds for an affiliate of Shahr Bank through brokers and front companies. Treasury said Sadegh Bavi, an Iranian-Dominican national listed in Dubai, facilitated the IRGC-Qods Force.

The banking targets included Iraq-based International Development Bank for Investment and Finance, which Treasury said provides “U.S. dollar access for Iran.” Treasury also designated two Iranian offshore lenders, Jazireh International Bank Company and Chabahar International Bank Overseas Company.

Secondary sanctions are US penalties imposed on non-US entities for certain transactions. Treasury warned that foreign financial institutions dealing with the designated people or entities may risk those measures, a notice that can force banks to review correspondent banking, trade finance and foreign-exchange activity.

Separately, Secretary of State Marco Rubio sanctioned Banco Internacional de Comercio S.A., Cuba’s state-owned bank, saying it had provided services to Iran’s sanctioned Karafarin Bank since at least 2022. Rubio said the Trump administration would not tolerate “hostile foreign military, intelligence and terror operations less than a hundred miles from the American homeland.”

Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, known as FinCEN, issued an alert asking banks to report possible Iranian misuse of religious charity networks, including diversion of khums, a religious tithe. Bessent said Treasury would not allow Iran to use religious institutions to fund terrorism.

The sanctions arrive as Hong Kong’s financial links with Middle Eastern capital are expanding. Atlas360 reported on Oct. 15 that Qatar and Hong Kong launched a $1 billion sharia-compliant China equity fund for investment in Chinese artificial intelligence and biotechnology; that fund is separate from Treasury’s designations.

The Prokerala report did not include responses from the sanctioned banks, companies or individuals. Earlier Operation Economic Outcast rounds targeted shadow-fleet and procurement networks across the UAE, Hong Kong, China and other jurisdictions, according to the report.

Source: Prokerala news article, Oct. 16, 2026