Greek Shipping Companies controlled by Lentoudis and Perogiannakis Linked to Sanctioned Iranian Oil Smuggling Network led by Salim Ahmed Said of Al-Iraqia Shipping Services & Oil Trading FZE (AISSOT)

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Thursday sanctioned a network led by Kurdish Iraqi-British businessman Salim Ahmed Said, exposing a long-running oil smuggling operation that disguised Iranian oil as Iraqi in order to circumvent international sanctions.

According to OFAC, Said covertly controls UAE-based VS Tankers FZE, formerly known as Al-Iraqia Shipping Services & Oil Trading FZE (AISSOT)—a company central to the smuggling scheme. OFAC notes that VS Tankers has been instrumental in facilitating ship-to-ship (STS) transfers and blending Iranian oil to misrepresent it as Iraqi crude.

Moreover, the Treasury’s announcement also confirms the sanctioning