The United States imposed sanctions on Singapore-based Wellbred Capital and its trading firms in the United Arab Emirates and Switzerland, citing links to Iran, as it steps up measures targeting Tehran’s global financial networks.
The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said on Monday that Wellbred had ties to Iranian oil shipping magnate Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani, according to Reuters.com.
“Shamkhani built Wellbred as a company outside the network’s Iranian business, though Shamkhani is ultimately responsible for Wellbred’s operations,” OFAC said in a statement outlining measures targeting nearly 60 companies, individuals and ships.
Also sanctioned were Dubai-based Wellbred Trading FZCO, Wellbred Trading SA in Geneva and its French biofuels refinery, La Nivernaise de Raffinage SAS.
Headquartered in Singapore, Wellbred trades in oil, naphtha, petrochemicals and liquefied petroleum gas and has offices in the United Arab Emirates, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia and Nigeria, according to its website.
OFAC had previously designated individuals, entities and vessels forming part of a vast shipping empire controlled by Shamkhani in July 2025 and April 2026.
Shamkhani, the son of the late senior Iranian security official Ali Shamkhani, operates a massive fleet of tankers and containerships, OFAC has said.
The network transports oil and petroleum products from Iran and Russia, as well as other cargo, to buyers around the world, generating profits running into tens of billions of dollars, OFAC added.
Discover more from Energy News Africa
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.