Iraqi Oil Minister Hayyan Abdul Ghani stated that Iranian oil tankers have been using fake Iraqi documents to circumvent sanctions, and that this matter has been reported to the U.S.
Speaking on a television program, the Iraqi oil minister, without providing details, said that Baghdad had received reports about U.S. naval forces seizing tankers in the Persian Gulf that were carrying Iraqi documents.
He emphasized that Washington had been informed that these documents were fraudulent.
Over the years, there have been reports about Iran’s regime exporting oil using forged Iraqi documents.
For instance, in 2019, Reuters reported that the tanker Grace-1 transported Iranian oil under documents claiming it was loaded in Basra.
On December 3, 2024, Reuters also reported that a complex fuel smuggling network in Iraq, benefiting the Iranian regime and its proxy groups, had generated between $1 billion and $3 billion annually since the start of Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ Al-Sudani’s tenure in 2022.
On March 19, the Iraqi Navy announced the seizure of an Iranian vessel in the Persian Gulf for fuel smuggling, stating that the ship’s Iranian captain, eight Indian crew members, and two Iraqi crew members had been arrested.
On February 4, former U.S. President Donald Trump signed an order to resume the maximum pressure policy against the Iranian regime and eliminate Iran’s oil exports to pressure Tehran into halting its nuclear program.
Meanwhile, on March 17, Fatemeh Mohajerani, spokesperson for the government of Iranian regime President Masoud Pezeshkian, responded to Washington’s decision to sanction Iran’s oil minister by stating that eliminating Iran’s oil exports is impossible.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry also condemned the U.S. attempt to halt Iran’s oil exports, calling it “a violation of international legal principles.”
Although sanctions against Iran-linked oil tankers began in October 2024, their intensity and precision have increased in recent months.
Since December 2024, the U.S. Department of the Treasury has placed special focus on targeting Iran’s covert fleet of Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs).
These tankers, with a capacity of 300,000 tons—equivalent to two million barrels of crude oil—play a key role in Iran’s oil exports.
Iran’s regime seizes second oil tanker in a week in Persian Gulf waters
In recent years, the Iranian regime has also seized several foreign oil tankers in the waters of the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.
