USA09 May, 20263 min read
US Imposes Sanctions On Iraq Deputy Oil Minister Ali Maarij Al-Bahadly Over Iran Support
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US Treasury sanctioned Iraq's Deputy Oil Minister Ali Maarij al-Bahadly for diverting oil to Iran. OFAC designated Iran-backed militias and related Iraqi entities alongside the deputy minister.
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Sanctions on Oil Official
The United States imposed sanctions on Thursday on Iraq's deputy oil minister Ali Maarij Al-Bahadly and militias over support for Iran, the Treasury Department said. The Treasury Department accused Maarij of abusing "his position to facilitate the diversion of oil to be sold for the benefit of the Iranian regime and its proxy militias in Iraq." The Treasury said Maarij enabled an Iran-affiliated oil smuggler to mix Iranian oil with Iraqi oil before being shipped to global markets and falsified documents that helped Iranian-affiliated networks to sell the mix disguised as purely Iraqi oil.
The sanctions freeze any U.S. assets of those targeted and generally bar Americans from dealing with them, according to the Treasury Department. In March, Iraq's oil minister Hayan Abdel-Ghani said Iranian oil tankers stopped by U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf were using forged Iraqi documents, while Tehran denied using such documents.
Bessent and State Department
State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said the deputy minister, Ali Maarij al-Bahadli, "abused his government position to divert Iraqi oil in support of the Iranian regime and its terrorist proxies." Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement, "Treasury will not stand idly by as Iran's military exploits Iraqi oil to fund terrorism against the United States and our partners," as the sanctions freeze U.S. assets and bar Americans from dealing with those targeted. JNS.org reported that the Trump administration imposed sanctions on Thursday targeting Iraq’s deputy oil minister and Iran-backed militias, and it quoted Bessent calling the Iranian regime "Like a rogue gang, the Iranian regime is pillaging resources that rightfully belong to the Iraqi people."
NDTV said the United States was putting intense pressure on the incoming government to sever links, and it described the scheme as Iranian oil being "fraudulently mixed with Iraqi oil and sold for Iran's benefit." NDTV also said a U.S. official reported that armed groups had hit U.S. facilities in Iraq more than 600 times before a ceasefire was announced.
Pressure, Diplomacy, and Markets
The move to sanction the deputy minister comes as the United States and Iran edge towards a temporary agreement to halt the war, with Tehran reviewing a proposal that would stop the fighting but leave the most contentious issues unresolved, Reuters reported. Baird Maritime said the sanctions campaign is aimed at Iran’s military funding, and it described the Treasury Department’s action as targeting oil diversion and falsified documents that help Iranian-affiliated networks sell blended cargo disguised as Iraqi oil. Firstpost said the sanctions freeze any U.S. assets of those targeted and generally prohibit Americans from dealing with them, and it described the war as launched by the United States and Israel in late February with Iran imposing a chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz.
“The sanctions freeze any U.S. assets of those targeted and generally bar Americans from dealing with them.”
Al-Monitor reported that the sanctions freeze any U.S. assets of those targeted and generally bar Americans from dealing with them, while it framed the Treasury accusation as "abusing \"his position to facilitate the diversion of oil to be sold for the benefit of the Iranian regime and its proxy militias in Iraq.\"" The stakes described across the coverage include pressure on Iraq’s links to Iran and the ability of Iranian-aligned networks to keep oil flowing, with Firstpost adding that oil prices held steep losses on hopes of a deal to end the war.