Recently, the United States has resumed its “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran with a series of sanctions targeting an international network involved in oil smuggling through the so-called “ghost fleet.” This operation has raised alarms about alternative routes for sanctioned energy trade, where Venezuela has played a prominent role in recent years.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has sanctioned over 30 entities, individuals, and vessels, including an Iraqi oil terminal—VS Oil—and a network of companies linked to the British-Iraqi businessman Salim Ahmed Said, accused of falsifying documents to pass Iranian oil off as Iraqi and evade sanctions imposed by Washington.
This network operated from the port of Khor al Zubair (Iraq), blending Iranian oil with Iraqi crude and using the complicity of Iraqi officials to legitimize its operations. The crude was then sold to international buyers through the United Arab Emirates.
The Venezuelan Connection
Although this week’s sanctions have focused on Iran, the modus operandi of the network shows direct similarities to the tactics used by the Venezuelan regime to evade U.S. sanctions. Since 2019, Venezuela has employed similar strategies to place oil in the international market, often in colloboration with allies such as Iran, Russia, and China.
Ships with turned-off transponders, ship-to-ship transfers in international waters, and falsification of origin documents are part of the shared scheme. On several occasions, U.S. and European authorities have detected Venezuelan shipments labeled as Malaysian or Mexican to bypass financial and trade restrictions.
Additionally, the links between PDVSA and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran (IRGC-Quds Force) have been documented in joint oil export operations and in the procurement of supplies for Venezuelan refineries.
The Threat of Illicit Oil Trade
The Treasury Department’s action highlights the persistence of an international underground economy that sustains sanctioned regimes. In the Iranian case, disguised crude sales finance IRGC operations, which the United States considers a terrorist group. In Venezuela, these illegal sales have fueled corruption networks and politically supported Nicolás Maduro’s regime.
Both cases reveal a parallel architecture of energy trade that is outside international regulations, endangering maritime security, financial integrity, and geopolitical balances.
Beyond Iran
Among the sanctioned vessels are tankers like Vizuri, Fotis, Bianca Joysel, and Elizabet, the latter notorious for adopting false identities of decommissioned ships—a practice also documented in Venezuelan vessels. Some of these tankers have conducted transfer operations in critical points such as the Strait of Malacca and the South China Sea, areas where Venezuelan crude movements have also been reported.
The designation of companies and vessels in India, United Arab Emirates, Singapore, and the United Kingdom reaffirms the transnational nature of these networks, which operate in an environment of institutional corruption, corporate opacity, and government complicity.
Implications for Caracas
For Venezuela, these new sanctions send a clear message: the United States is willing to escalate its pressure on those fueling the illegal trade of sanctioned oil. As Iran’s routes tighten, scrutiny on PDVSA and its international operators is likely to increase.
The Biden administration had partially eased some restrictions on Venezuelan crude in 2023, but after the failure of the Barbados agreements and the intensification of political repression in the country, Washington revoked temporary licenses in April 2024. Consequently, Venezuela has had to resort to clandestine methods to place its crude.
The sanctions against Said’s network and the Iraqi oil terminal constitute a pertinent precedent for Venezuela, which employs similar schemes in its sanctioned energy trade. Should the United States extend this rationale to other countries involved in the “ghost fleet,” PDVSA and its intermediaries might face new measures that would further restrict their already fragile access to foreign currency.
The Iranian case reveals a clear pattern: the black market for oil is today one of the pillars supporting authoritarian regimes, and its dismantlement will be a priority on the geopolitical agendas of the West.