OFAC designates 50+ Shamkhani-linked individuals, entities and vessels
Bank sanctions-screening and maritime-compliance teams must block the newly designated Shamkhani individuals, entities and vessels; U.S.-jurisdiction property is frozen and reportable to OFAC
Change
On 14 July 2026, OFAC designated more than 50 individuals, entities and vessels in Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani's Iranian oil-shipping network under E.O. 13902 — including Singapore-based Sea Lead Shipping and its subsidiaries, and the tankers DARIKA (IMO 9506693) and VIRENT (IMO 9332171) that carried Russian petroleum — blocking all their U.S.-jurisdiction property and extending the block to entities they own 50 percent or more.
Why it matters
All property and interests in property of the designated parties within U.S. jurisdiction are blocked, entities owned 50 percent or more by blocked persons are also blocked, and non-U.S. persons face secondary-sanctions exposure. The action adds more than 50 names and vessels to the SDN List — lifting the cumulative Shamkhani-network total above 200 — so screening desks must ingest the full update and screen vessels by IMO number and shipping companies by name, not only individual identities. Several designees hold alternative-nationality passports (Dominica, Russia) used to obscure their links to Iran, and the network rotates vessel operators and uses front companies, so ownership-and-control screening under the 50% rule is essential.
Implications
- — Bank sanctions-screening teams at financial institutions must add the designated individuals and entities (including Sea Lead Shipping PTE. Ltd. and its subsidiaries, Golden Nest Group Ltd, BSG Management Ltd, Al Kina Commercial Broker LLC, Volta Shipping Services and the We Freight group) to screening filters and block or reject matching property and transactions, noting the alternative-nationality passports (Rahbar Madani and Zahed hold Dominica passports; Ali Rakhbarmadani holds a Russian passport) that a name-only screen may miss — blocked property in U.S. possession must be reported to OFAC.
- — Maritime compliance, vessel-vetting, chartering and marine-insurance teams must add the identified vessel IMO numbers to screening and refuse services and payments tied to them: DARIKA 9506693; VIRENT 9332171; SHENTON WAY 9146314; TANJONG PAGAR 1 9404508; PAYA LEBAR 9134232; GEMMA 9509097; NADIA 9122461; HOPE 1 9514339; ELPINIKI 9606015; JADE 9418999; OPAL 9467158; CICCIO 9192442; SEPEHR PAYAM 9110535; ERIKA 8721454; ARKANOOR 2 8727848; ARKANOOR 3 8832083; SEA CRUISER 8729963; SEA CASTLE 8891572; SEA ANCHOR 8858099; SEA GALLEON 8843666.
- — Correspondent-banking and payments compliance teams must treat any entity owned, directly or indirectly, 50 percent or more by one or more blocked persons as blocked property and decline correspondent relationships and transactions involving such entities, since the network operates through layered front companies not all separately named.
- — Non-U.S. financial institutions and maritime service providers must assess exposure to the network independently of any U.S. nexus, because OFAC has stated the designated parties are subject to secondary sanctions.
Who is affected
- — Bank sanctions-screening teams at financial institutions
- — Maritime compliance, vessel-vetting, chartering and marine-insurance teams
- — Correspondent-banking and payments compliance teams
- — Non-U.S. financial institutions and maritime service providers with Iran-nexus exposure