Iraqi-British national sanctioned for ‘smuggling oil to fund Iran'
Salim Ahmed Said is accused of running a billion-dollar smuggling operation via a network of companies trading with Tehran.
According to the US treasury, he forged documents and bribed officials in order to disguise the source of the oil, which was then sold to Western buyers via either Iraq or the United Arab Emirates, for at least five years.
Some of the profits are alleged to have been sent to Iran to bankroll the activities of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, proscribed by the US as a terrorist group.
Said's companies and vessels were allegedly used to blend Iranian and Iraqi oil – one of several 'obfuscation techniques' to launder the supplies so they could be sold on the legitimate market and allow Tehran to evade sanctions.
He is also accused of spending millions of dollars bribing members of the Iraqi government in exchange for forged certificates stating the oil originated from Iraq.
In addition to owning a UAE-based oil tanker company, with which he is said to have avoided a formal connection, Said allegedly owns two companies based in Britain: The Willett Hotel Limited and Robinbest Limited.
'As President Trump has made clear, Iran's behaviour has left it decimated. While it has had every opportunity to choose peace, its leaders have chosen extremism,' said Scott Bessent, the US treasury secretary.
'[We] will continue to target Tehran's revenue sources and intensify economic pressure to disrupt the regime's access to the financial resources that fuel its destabilising activities.'
The treasury has also sanctioned several vessels said to have been used in the covert delivery of Iranian oil in a bid to intensify pressure on Iran's 'shadow fleet'.
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