Treasury Sanctions False Flag Network Accused of Helping Iran's Shadow Fleet

The US Treasury Department on Wednesday, November 4, 2026, sanctioned an India based couple and their companies, accusing them of running a maritime fraud network that sold false flags and fake certifications to sanctioned tankers carrying Iranian oil. The State Department said the action targets 13 individuals and companies in the network.

What Treasury says the network did

Treasury said Suniel Kumar Sharma and his spouse, Jaspreet Preeti Shahid, working from Chandigarh, India, set up companies that claimed to act as flag registries and maritime service providers for countries that never authorized them. The list in the Treasury statement includes Guyana, Eswatini, Aruba, Mali, Mozambique, Malawi, Sint Maarten and Timor-Leste, among others. Vessels that used the false flags included ships carrying Iranian petroleum for the Iranian military and its proxies, Treasury said.

The couple's operations date to at least 2014, when they tried to impersonate the flag authority of Dominica, a Caribbean nation, according to Treasury. In 2023 Sharma set up Eswatini Maritime Affairs and International Ship Registry in Singapore. Treasury said Eswatini authorities have publicly disavowed that company, yet it kept providing flagging services to ships moving Iranian oil.

Treasury gave one example from this year. On April 22, 2026, US forces seized the tanker Majestic X, which was flying a false Guyana flag and carrying Iranian oil when it was boarded, the department said.

False flags matter because a ship sailing under a fake registry has no valid insurance cover of the kind legitimate flags require, Treasury said. A spill or a collision involving such a ship could leave coastal countries facing large damage bills with no insurer to pay them.

Who was designated

The designations were issued under Executive Order 13902, which covers Iran's petroleum, petrochemical and aviation sectors. They name Sharma, Shahid, Eswatini Maritime, Oceaniek Technologies India and Aryavart Ship Management Private Limited, along with Aryavart directors Ashwani Kumar Dhiman and Ishwinder Singh and six other companies Treasury linked to Shahid. Designation blocks property in the United States or held by US persons and bars most dealings with the named parties.

Treasury also sanctioned Fugo Ground Services Inc, based in Türkiye, for providing ground handling and other services to US sanctioned Iranian airlines, including Iran Air Tour, Saha Airlines, Sepehran Airlines, Varesh Airlines, Taban Airlines and Ata Airlines.

The action is part of Operation Economic Outcast, the sanctions campaign Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent announced on August 24, 2026. "As we have said many times, under Operation Economic Outcast, you are either with us or against us," Bessent said in the Treasury statement. "We know where you are, and we will sanction those who continue supporting the Iranian regime, whether by land, sea, or air."

Alongside the designations, the Office of Foreign Assets Control issued a new alert warning the shipping industry about the sanctions risk of dealing with vessels that may be falsely flagged. The State Department, in its own statement on November 4, called on flag states, port authorities and the maritime industry to verify vessel registrations and deny shadow fleet vessels access to their waters and ports.