“Weapons in exchange for oil: how weapons are supplied to Russia bypassing sanctions Hossein Shamkhani organized a scheme to barter Iranian weapons for Russian oil through a network of shell companies. His firms control more than 25% of arms shipments from Iran to Russia to circumvent sanctions.”, — write on: unn.ua
Details
Hossein Shamkhani managed to quietly establish himself at the center of the Western financial system. He is also one of the businessmen involved in the supply of weapons across the Caspian Sea to Russia, helping Moscow to wage war in Ukraine.
Hossein Shamkhani, through a network of firms he controls, including Dubai-based Crios Shipping LLC, began moving missiles, drone components and dual-use goods across the Caspian Sea last year on at least two ships, according to more than a dozen U.S., British and European officials. , as well as people who are directly familiar with his activities.
They made such statements on the condition of anonymity due to the confidentiality of information. According to information, Moscow pays for oil shipments, and this type of barter is becoming more and more common due to US and European sanctions against Russia and Iran.
The deals, which coincided with Russia beginning to use more Iranian weapons in its attack on Ukraine, reflect another side of the sprawling global business network that enriched Hossein Shamkhani, whose father was Iran’s defense minister.
Shamkhani’s network of firms handles more than a quarter of the total supply of Iranian arms to Russia, sources said. His empire also includes a hedge fund that operated from offices in London, Geneva and Singapore, as well as a Dubai-based commodities trading company that works with Western oil companies.
Iran and Russia have acknowledged the strengthening of defense cooperation, without disclosing all the details. Although the bilateral arms trade exposes participants to potential sanctions from Western governments, it is not illegal.
As far as I understand, the Shamkhani network is related to contracts for the use of drones in Ukraine
A State Department official said the US had warned of a deepening security partnership between Russia and Iran since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
This partnership threatens European security and shows how Iran’s destabilizing influence extends beyond the Middle East and around the world
Russia in the Caspian Sea
According to vessel tracking data compiled by Bloomberg, since mid-2023, several Crios that used to ply the Mediterranean and Black Sea routes suddenly moved to the Caspian Sea and have since been plying back and forth between Iran and Russia.
Ships include Sea Castle (also known as Tooka) and Sea Anchor (also known as Roja). However, as you know, they are not the only ones. According to data compiled by Bloomberg, both vessels have made at least five trips from Iranian ports to Russia’s Astrakhan this year.
By international shipping standards, the Sea Anchor and Sea Castle are small, but sufficient for transporting weapons on short trips across the Caspian. They have 3,000 and 4,000 tons of carrying capacity, about 1/100th of what giant ocean-going container ships could carry.
The S&P Global database does not list the countries where any of these vessels are registered.
Records compiled by the maritime intelligence firm Pole Star Global show that they both used the flags of Palau, a Pacific island that is internationally blacklisted as a shipping registry.
The arms-for-oil trade is the latest detail in a year-long Bloomberg News investigation into Shamkhani’s business dealings, which has included interviews with more than four dozen people familiar with his operations and a review of confidential documents and corporate records.
Crios and the Oceanlink network
It remains unclear how many weapons were delivered by ships controlled by the Shamkhani network, or exactly how they were deployed. According to the people, the weapons were not declared in cargo manifests to avoid paper trails.
Shamkhani’s financial empire controls a fleet of dozens of vessels, including oil tankers and cargo ships.
According to the federal register of entities operating in the United Arab Emirates, in October 2020 the company Crios was founded in Dubai, which occupies a central place in Caspian cargo. On its website, the company describes itself as an international ship management firm, but does not disclose any details about its ownership or management.
It is one of a group of shipping entities controlled by Shamkhani, including Oceanlink Maritime DMCC and Koban Shipping LLC, sources said. Some shippers sit next to employees of his hedge fund and oil trading firms.
Most of the staff call Shamkhani simply “H” or “Hector”.
In April, the U.S. imposed sanctions on Oceanlink and designated 13 vessels operated by the firm as blocked property, without indicating a clear link to Shamkhani.
Applying sanctions against these barter networks is quite difficult, especially if you take into account Russia’s historical dominance in the region. The short-term goal should be to put these networks in the spotlight.
We will remind
Nick Pope, the former head of the UFO division of the British Ministry of Defence, suggests the involvement of Russia or China in the appearance of drones over RAF air bases. The incidents may have involved the deployment of nuclear weapons and the launch of Storm Shadow missiles.