The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on members of an international oil smuggling network accused of generating revenue for Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and the foreign arm of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The designations targeted what the US Treasury Department said was a Gulf-based group of individuals and front companies that used storage units in the United Arab Emirates’ Port of Sharjah and blended oil shipments to conceal their Iranian origin. Modified or counterfeit certificates were given to the oil shipments before their sale abroad, the department said.