Treasury Exposes Continued Efforts by Iran to Avoid Sanctions

Treasury Designates IRISL Front Companies and Directors
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WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of the Treasury today announced the ‎designation of 37 front companies based in Germany, Malta, and Cyprus and five ‎Iranian individuals for being owned or controlled by, or acting for or on behalf of, ‎the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) and its affiliates. Today's ‎action, taken pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13382, targets IRISL's complex ‎network of shipping and holding companies and executives and further exposes ‎Iran's use of its national maritime carrier to advance its illicit weapons of mass ‎destruction (WMD) program and to carry military cargoes. ‎



‎"We will continue to expose the elaborate structures and tactics Iran uses to shield ‎its shipping line from international scrutiny so that it can continue to facilitate illicit ‎commerce," said Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Stuart ‎Levey. "This pattern of obfuscation is leading the private sector around the world ‎to refuse business with Iran rather than risk becoming involved in its nuclear and ‎missile programs."
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Following its September 2008 designation by Treasury under E.O. 13382 for its ‎provision of logistical services to Iran's Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces ‎Logistics, the arm of the Iranian military that oversees its ballistic missile program, ‎IRISL has increasingly created and relied upon a series of front companies and ‎has engaged in deceptive behavior to assist efforts to evade the impact of ‎sanctions and increased scrutiny of its activities. Including today's action, ‎Treasury has designated nearly 70 IRISL front companies and affiliates and has ‎identified more than 100 ships as being the property of IRISL or its fronts. ‎

Pursuant to E.O. 13382 – which is aimed at freezing the assets of proliferators of ‎WMD and their supporters, thereby isolating them from the U.S. financial and ‎commercial systems – Treasury today designated:
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Fifteen shipping companies, each the registered owner of a vessel already on ‎Treasury's List of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN ‎List), as blocked property of IRISL, and 11 holding companies that own the ‎shipping companies. All of the holding companies and shipping companies are ‎based at the same address in Hamburg, Germany.