Greek Shipping Companies controlled by Lentoudis and Perogiannakis Linked to Sanctioned Iranian Oil Smuggling Network led by Salim Ahmed Said of Al-Iraqia Shipping Services & Oil Trading FZE (AISSOT)

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Thursday sanctioned a network led by Kurdish Iraqi-British businessman Salim Ahmed Said, exposing a long-running oil smuggling operation that disguised Iranian oil as Iraqi in order to circumvent international sanctions.

According to OFAC, Said covertly controls UAE-based VS Tankers FZE, formerly known as Al-Iraqia Shipping Services & Oil Trading FZE (AISSOT)—a company central to the smuggling scheme. OFAC notes that VS Tankers has been instrumental in facilitating ship-to-ship (STS) transfers and blending Iranian oil to misrepresent it as Iraqi crude.

Moreover, the Treasury’s announcement also confirms the sanctioning of several tankers engaged in covert Iranian oil deliveries. Among them is the Marshall Islands-flagged crude oil tanker DIJILAH (IMO 9829629), described as operated, managed, and beneficially owned by VS Tankers since 2019. The vessel reportedly engaged in multiple STS transfers with the U.S.-sanctioned tanker CASINOVA in April 2024, near the Iran-Iraq maritime boundary.

VS Tankers is one of several companies now sanctioned under Executive Order (E.O.) 13902, targeting the Iranian petroleum sector. Additional companies controlled by Said include VS Oil Terminal FZE, VS Petroleum DMCC (formerly Ikon Petroleum), Rhine Shipping DMCC, as well as UK-based The Willett Hotel Limited and Robinbest Limited.

OFAC also detailed the role of VS Oil, which manages storage tanks in Khor al-Zubayr, Iraq, where Iranian oil is blended before being exported under Iraqi cover. Satellite and tracking data further show VS Oil’s links to tankers operating on behalf of Iranian entities Triliance Petrochemical Co. Ltd. and Sahara Thunder, both previously sanctioned for supporting the IRGC and Iran’s military.

According to OFAC, Said’s network relied on bribery of Iraqi officials—including members of parliament—to obtain forged certificates enabling Iranian oil to be passed off as Iraqi-origin. The proceeds from these schemes have partly funded the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force (IRGC-QF), a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization.

This latest round of sanctions marks the eighth action under OFAC’s enhanced pressure campaign on Iran’s oil trade, following the President’s directive via National Security Presidential Memorandum 2. The U.S. Department of State concurrently designated six additional entities and four vessels under E.O. 13846 for knowingly facilitating Iranian petroleum transactions.

There are indications of ties of Greek shipping companies to this Iranian oil smuggling network. Evalend Shipping, controlled by Kriton Lentoudis, and Petrochem General Management, controlled by Ioannis (John) Perogiannakis, were key commercial counterparties of AISSOT and VS Tankers for nearly ten years. Ioannis Perogiannakis has allegedly acted as shipbroker for the Salim organization, procuring vessels that were chartered to the various Salim Said outfits including AISSOT and Rhine Shipping. Kriton Lentoudis’s Evalend Shipping is to known to have an extensive relationship with Salim Said, as a number of Evalend vessels were chartered out to AISSOT and VS Tankers, including originally the Dijilah, which acted for years as a “floating oil storage” and where most of the blending and laundering of Iranian oil into international markets took place. Lentoudis was known to have also owned certain of these vessels in joint ventures with Salim Said.

Implications for Greek Shipping

While neither Evalend Shipping nor Petrochem General Management have been directly sanctioned, their historical and ongoing commercial links to AISSOT and VS Tankers—now designated entities—raise compliance and reputational concerns. Under OFAC regulations, non-U.S. persons may be exposed to secondary sanctions if they continue engaging in significant transactions with sanctioned entities or networks.

Greek shipowners, particularly those active in Middle East crude trades, may come under increased scrutiny from financial institutions, insurers, and charterers who are tightening due diligence on counterparties with exposure to sanctioned parties. Legal analysts also caution that transactions post-2020—when Said’s illicit network became more active—could face retrospective review by regulators if tied to sanctioned oil flows or documentation irregularities.