U.S. blacklists vessel en route to China with $100M in cargo sent by Iran

Feb. 27 (UPI) -- The United States on Tuesday blacklisted the owner and operator of a crude oil tanker that is en route to offload more than $100 million in Iranian goods in China.

The Treasury identified the ship as the Panama-flagged Kohana. It said the vessel was heading toward China with cargo sent by Iran's Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics.

The department has accused the ministry of facilitating the delivery of Iranian weapons, in particular drones, to Russia, which has been using them in its war against Ukraine. The weapons have also been delivered to Iran-backed militias in the Middle East.

Hong Kong-registered Kohana Co. was blacklisted for owning the vessel and Marshall Islands-registered Iridescent Co Ltd. was hit for being its operator.

"Iran's Ministry of Defense is engaged in a series of schemes to fund destabilizing activities that range from supplying militia groups with weapons used to attack U.S. forces to aiding Russia's invasion of Ukraine," Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said Tuesday in a statement.

"Treasury will continue to disrupt the illicit revenue-generation efforts that support these destabilizing acts."

The sanctions came as the United States and Britain jointly targeted the Iran-backed Houthi militia with blacklistings over its attacks on their military vessels as well as commercial ships in the Red Sea.

"The United States and its allies remain committed to countering terrorist financing and will continue to use all available means to disrupt Houthi attacks on international shipping in the region," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.

The sanctions freeze all property and interests in property of those blacklisted while barring U.S. persons from doing business with them.