US Sanctions India-Based Network Accused of Faking Ship Flags for Iran’s Oil Fleet

The U.S. Treasury Department on Wednesday imposed sanctions on an India-based network it accuses of selling fake ship flags and safety certificates to tankers carrying Iranian oil, along with a company in Türkiye that it says kept serving sanctioned Iranian airlines.

The action, announced Nov. 4 as part of the administration’s Iran pressure campaign called Operation Economic Outcast, came a day after midterm elections in which the war with Iran weighed heavily on voters.

Who was targeted

Treasury named Suniel Kumar Sharma and his wife, Jaspreet Preeti Shahid, who are based in Chandigarh, India. According to the department, the couple set up registries that falsely claimed to speak for national governments, letting vessels in Iran’s so-called shadow fleet sail under flags they were not entitled to fly. Two other Indian citizens who run businesses tied to the couple, and nine linked companies, were also sanctioned, according to Al-Monitor and India Today.

Treasury said the scheme dates back to at least 2014, when the couple tried to impersonate the ship registry of Dominica. In 2023, it said, Sharma set up a Singapore-based company presenting itself as the maritime registry of Eswatini, which the government of Eswatini has publicly disowned. Another of his companies, Oceaniek Technologies India, was used to run registries claiming to represent Aruba, Nicaragua and Sint Maarten, the department said.

Treasury listed several sanctioned tankers that it said used these flags, including vessels named Ping Shun, Lattafa, Binary Star and Vera.

The Turkish company

Separately, Treasury sanctioned Fugo Ground Services, a Türkiye-based firm it said provides ground services to Iranian airlines that are already under U.S. sanctions. The department said the company began serving some of those carriers within weeks of their designation in September.

What the sanctions mean

The people and companies named are now cut off from the U.S. financial system, and their property under U.S. jurisdiction is blocked. These are allegations by the U.S. government, and the targets have not been charged with a crime in this action.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement that anyone still supporting the Iranian government would be found and sanctioned, “whether by land, sea, or air.”

The department also warned that falsely flagged ships carry no valid insurance, meaning an accident or spill could leave coastal countries facing large cleanup bills.

Why it matters

Ship flags matter because the country of registration is responsible for a vessel’s safety checks and insurance rules. By targeting the paperwork behind tankers rather than only the ships themselves, Washington is trying to make it harder for Iran to keep selling oil that helps fund its war effort. Oil prices have already swung sharply this week, as covered in our report on the plunge in oil prices after the midterms.

How we reported this

This report draws on an official U.S. Treasury statement and reporting from major news organizations, named below. Early details are identified as such and may change.

Sources: U.S. Department of the Treasury, Al-Monitor, India Today, ABC News (Australia).