On August 15, 2024, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control designated several individuals, entities and vessels for supporting a network backed by Houthi financier Sa’id al-Jamal, and the shipment of Iranian commodities, including oil and liquefied petroleum gas (“LPG”), to Yemen and the United Arab Emirates (“UAE”). Al-Jamal was designated by the U.S. in 2021 for providing financial or material assistance to the Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (“IRGC-QF”), while the Houthis (also known as Ansarallah) were designated in the U.S. as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (“SDGT”) in February 2024. The new designees include UAE-based Houthi-affiliate ONX Trading FZE that allegedly facilitated illicit payments for the al-Jamal network and Malaysia-based Transmarine Navigation (M) SDN. BHD., a foreign shipping agency that allegedly handled overseas shipments for the network. OFAC also sanctioned several LPG tankers that shipped Iranian commodities for the network and their owners. OFAC also updated the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (“SDN List”) to reflect that previously-sanctioned vessel ARTURA recently changed its name OHAR.
In addition to the sanctions on the al-Jamal network, OFAC also sanctioned Hong Kong-based Kai Heng Long Global Energy Limited for shipping Iranian LPG for Hizballah as well as four vessels that the company owns and manages.
The sanctions were imposed pursuant to Executive Order 13224, as amended, which targets terrorist groups and their supporters. As a result of these designations, all property and interests in property of the designated persons within the United States or within the possession or control of a U.S. person are blocked, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions involving a designated person. Entities owned 50 percent or more by one or more blocked persons are also blocked.