Treasury sanctions Houthi illicit oil trading and shipping network

Mechanism

OFAC designated the network under E.O. 13224 (as amended) on two tracks: (1) a Sana'a/Hudaydah oil-smuggling front-company web — Black Diamond Petroleum Derivatives, Star Plus Yemen, Tamco Establishment for Oil Derivatives, Royal Plus Shipping Services and Commercial Agencies, Yahya Al-Usaili Company for Import, Gasoline Aman Company for Oil Derivatives Imports, Azzahra Establishment for Commerce and Agencies, Yemen Elaph Petroleum Derivatives Import, and Abbot Trading Co., plus their Houthi operator-owners (Mohammed Abdulsalam, Abdullah Dabbash, Ali Ahmed Daghsan Talea, Daghsan Ahmed Daghsan, and port official Zaid Al-Washli) — that launders black-market oil revenue into Houthi militant financing and weapons procurement (including UAV components); and (2) two vessels and their owner/operators — the Valente (Best Way Tanker Corp / Ocean Voyage LLC) and the Atlantis MZ (Atlantis M. Shipping Co) — for discharging over 60,000 metric tons of gasoline each at Ras Isa port after the April 4, 2025 expiration of Counter Terrorism General License 25A, the wind-down authorization that had permitted refined-product offloading in Yemen. A third vessel, the Sarah (formerly Tulip BZ, already blocked in April 2025), was re-flagged on the SDN list after returning to Ras Isa in June 2025 to discharge LPG. GTA logs Azerbaijan and Marshall Islands as affected jurisdictions, consistent with flag-state/beneficial- ownership links among the designated shipping entities; the Treasury press release itself names only the Yemen-based oil-trading network and the vessel-owning shell companies.

Downstream implications

• Extends the post-GL-25A enforcement track: any tanker discharging refined

products at Houthi-controlled ports after April 4, 2025 is now a designation target, raising compliance risk for tanker owners/operators and P&I insurers trading in the Red Sea/Gulf of Aden corridor.

• Deepens the paper trail on Iran-Houthi-Russia oil-and-arms financing

(Black Diamond's role in Houthi-Russia oil-deal negotiations; Royal Plus's IRGC-sourced oil sales and UAV-engine payment facilitation).

• Sets up the subsequent, larger September 2025 (32 designees) and January

2026 (21 designees) OFAC actions against the same Houthi revenue network already on file in this register.

Open questions

• Exact flag states/beneficial-ownership chains tying Azerbaijan and the

Marshall Islands to the designated vessels/shipping entities were not disclosed in the Treasury press release; would need the SDN list entries to confirm.