Transcript [00:00] Hey everyone. So, yesterday, July 14th, [00:03] the United States Treasury Department [00:05] dropped one of the biggest sanctions [00:10] actions of the year, one of the biggest [00:12] sanctions actions since the start of the [00:15] war. US sanctions more than 50 [00:16] individuals and entities and vessels [00:19] tied to Iranian shipping. [00:23] So, we're going to talk about what this [00:24] is about. Now, on the surface, it just [00:26] looks like another list of Iranian [00:28] sanctions we've all gotten used to [00:30] seeing, and they of course they put out [00:32] one of their you know, one of their [00:35] you know, the you know, the press [00:36] release [00:37] from the Department of Treasury and it [00:40] gives this long list of people and [00:42] institutions that are being sanctioned [00:44] in this round. [00:47] But, [00:50] I want you to know why this is actually [00:51] different. Why this really matters. What [00:53] we're going to do is we're going to talk [00:54] about what these sanctions actually are [00:55] about. [00:57] And it's an interesting story. And then [01:00] in the latter part of the video, we're [01:01] going to talk about the implications for [01:03] what is happening right now in the war [01:05] and how this fits into everything that [01:07] we're seeing [01:09] in these days. Okay. [01:11] So, these sanctions, one of the [01:13] interesting things about it is that they [01:14] are aimed at [01:16] primarily they're aimed at [01:19] one person. He's mentioned throughout [01:22] right in the top of the of the Treasury [01:24] press release it says, "Today, the [01:26] Department of Treasury's Office of [01:27] Foreign Assets Control [01:29] is intensifying efforts to disrupt and [01:31] degrade the illicit shipping and [01:32] sanctions evasion network of Mohammad [01:35] Hussein Shamkhani." [01:38] Okay, this one guy, Mohammad Hussein [01:41] Shamkhani. We're going to learn all [01:42] about this guy. I'm going to show you [01:43] who he is and how his operation works. [01:45] And I think you're going to see that [01:46] this sanctions announcement is [01:49] major. It's a window into how this war [01:52] is being fought right now, connects to [01:54] everything that's going on. Let's get [01:55] into it. So, the Treasury office [01:59] um the Treasury Department's Office of [02:01] Foreign Assets Control announces it's [02:03] intensifying pressure campaign on the [02:05] Shamkhani network. [02:07] 50 plus designations in one action, [02:10] individuals, shell companies, vessels. [02:12] Um the Secretary of Treasury Scott [02:14] Bessent puts out a statement [02:16] and he says in the statement, here's the [02:18] here's the key line. I'm not going to [02:20] read the whole statement. We're going to [02:21] do this We're going to save a little [02:23] time here. The key line is quoted in [02:24] this article. [02:26] The Iranian regime survives on deception [02:28] and the Shamkhani network is one of its [02:31] most profitable [02:33] engines. Most profitable engines. [02:35] Treasury is shutting down the financial [02:37] infrastructure that allows the regime to [02:40] continue its threats to US national [02:42] security and global shipping. [02:45] Okay? [02:46] One of its So, what did he call it? One [02:47] of its most profitable [02:52] engines. It is the financial [02:54] infrastructure of the regime, he's [02:55] saying. [02:56] Treasury is shutting down the financial [02:58] infrastructure that allows the regime to [03:00] continue its threats. [03:02] This is not the first time they've gone [03:03] after this guy Shamkhani. They first [03:05] sanctioned Shamkhani back in July of [03:07] last year, a year ago. They hit his [03:10] network again in April of this year with [03:11] some more sanctions. And now with [03:13] yesterday's action, Treasury says that [03:15] it has now sanctioned over 200 [03:18] individuals, entities, and vessels [03:20] connected to this one man's operation. [03:23] 200. [03:25] Okay, we're talking about a massive [03:26] sanctions campaign against a single [03:28] financial network [03:30] uh that has been going on for over the [03:32] course of a year. [03:33] Now, there was a second piece of [03:34] yesterday's announcement that gets lost [03:36] in the noise and even in some of the [03:38] stories that I read about it, they [03:39] didn't mention it. Secretary Bessent [03:42] said that Treasury also froze 130 [03:45] million dollars sitting in digital [03:47] wallets tied to Iran's Central Bank [03:50] crypto. [03:51] So, this isn't just tankers and shell [03:53] companies anymore. It's a financial [03:55] dragnet that now reaches into digital [03:57] assets, which experts say Iran has been [04:00] leaning on more and more since the war [04:01] started, both to [04:03] to move regime money around sanctions. [04:06] That's why they use it. Uh but also as a [04:08] lifeline for Iranians who can't who [04:10] don't have a functioning banking system. [04:13] So, the obvious question is who's this [04:15] Shamkhani guy and why does this one guy, [04:18] this one oil trader, [04:21] uh [04:21] rate the kind of attention that he's [04:23] getting from the United States Treasury? [04:27] Now, before we get into Shamkhani, [04:29] uh let me just remind you about a an [04:31] event you do not want to miss this [04:33] coming Monday, July 20th [04:36] at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time, 8:00 p.m. in [04:39] Israel. A webinar, Are We Headed for [04:41] Regime Change? What to Expect from the [04:43] Middle East. If you can't make that [04:45] time, you should still register for this [04:47] event because if you register for the [04:49] event, you will receive an email after [04:52] after the webinar with the full webinar [04:54] that you can watch on your own time [04:55] whenever you wish. But, you'll only get [04:57] that if you register. So, Are We Headed [05:00] for Regime Change? What to Expect from [05:01] the Middle East. Our panelists are [05:03] Brigadier General Amir Avivi of the of [05:05] the Israel Defense and Security Forum, [05:08] Brian Kennedy, president of the American [05:10] Strategy Group and former president of [05:13] the Claremont Institute, Dr. David [05:15] Wurmser, senior analyst from the Center [05:18] for Security Policy, and Lieutenant [05:20] Colonel Jonathan Conricus, senior fellow [05:22] at the Foundation for Defense of [05:23] Democracies, [05:24] former IDF spokesman. This is an [05:26] all-star panel. You do not want to miss [05:28] this. So, sign up by going by clicking [05:31] on the link in the description of this [05:33] video. Uh that's the link. You'll see it [05:36] down there to register. It's [05:37] israel365.com/regime [05:40] or you can scan this QR code. Don't [05:42] worry, you can pause the video right [05:44] now, take your phone out, scan the QR [05:46] code, do whatever you got to do, scan [05:48] the QR code or click on the link in in [05:50] the description of this video. Webinar [05:53] Monday 1:00 p.m. Eastern 8:00 p.m. in [05:55] Israel. You do not want to miss this. [05:57] Okay, so let's talk about this guy. Here [05:59] he is on your screen. Mohammad Hossein [06:02] Shamkhani. [06:04] Okay, so he is uh so Mohammad Hossein [06:06] Shamkhani, the guy that this whole [06:08] sanctions regime is all about, is the [06:10] son [06:12] of a guy named [06:14] Ali Shamkhani. Now, Ali Shamkhani, maybe [06:16] you've heard of him if you're a real [06:18] Iran nerd, he was one of the most [06:21] powerful people in the Islamic regime, [06:24] period. He was more powerful than like [06:27] any of the people we're currently [06:28] dealing with, he was more powerful. He [06:30] ran the National Security Council, the [06:34] Iran's Iran's Supreme National Security [06:36] Council for a decade until 2023. [06:39] He was the second longest-serving [06:41] security chief in the history of the [06:43] regime. [06:44] Right behind Hassan Rouhani, who then [06:46] became president. [06:47] This was a man who sat at the right hand [06:50] of the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. He [06:52] was killed uh this guy on your screen [06:55] was killed on February 28th on the [06:57] opening in the opening strikes of the [07:00] war, the same strikes that killed [07:01] Khamenei himself. Uh his funeral [07:03] happened back in March, they didn't wait [07:05] until July 4th weekend to do it. So, [07:08] I'm going to come back to [07:11] to uh you know, to the you know, to the [07:13] father. Let's talk about the son now. [07:15] Okay, so the son [07:17] his son is is this guy, is Mohammad [07:20] um Shamkhani. And he's the subject of [07:23] all these sanctions. [07:25] So, while his father was running Iran's [07:27] National Security Apparatus, the son was [07:29] building what US Treasury now describes [07:32] as a multi-billion-dollar oil and [07:34] shipping empire, one that according to [07:37] the Treasury Department enriches a [07:39] single family connected to the top of [07:41] the regime, while ordinary Iranians, you [07:43] know, can barely eat. [07:45] Um [07:46] Now, how how does this operation work? [07:48] So, this is the part that I really want [07:50] you to understand because it's a case [07:51] study in how the whole Iranian sanctions [07:53] evasion [07:55] regime has operated for years. According [07:58] to Treasury, [08:01] the Shamkhani network relies on a web of [08:03] front companies, shipping firms, [08:05] consulting firms, brokerage firms, [08:08] and they're registered in places like [08:10] the UAE, the Marshall Islands, Hong [08:12] Kong, and other jurisdictions that look [08:15] completely legitimate on paper. They [08:17] have offices and websites and employees. [08:19] Treasury says explicitly that these [08:21] firms maintain a robust public presence [08:25] to provide a veneer of legitimacy. So, [08:27] they actually have people in offices and [08:28] working and and and functioning as [08:30] companies and websites, all as part of [08:33] looking like legitimate companies. And [08:36] then there's the actual fleet, the [08:38] tankers, the dozens of tankers that move [08:40] Iranian and Russian oil oil products and [08:43] liquefied petroleum gas around the [08:45] world. The ships get renamed and get [08:49] their flags changed, and they get [08:51] shuffled around, they get a different [08:52] paint job between different shell [08:55] company owners. [08:57] The cargo, the oil, gets blended [09:00] and mixed from ship to ship, Iranian [09:03] crude being mixed with other petroleum [09:05] products specifically to disguise the [09:07] origin before it's resold. And they move [09:10] the ships around the world, they ship, [09:11] you know, they do this they'll do this [09:13] moving of the oil around in different [09:14] ports or even at sea. There's a comp [09:17] there's a company that the US Treasury [09:18] names in the sanctions called the Milvus [09:21] Group [09:22] that the the European Commission says [09:24] that it exists exactly for this purpose, [09:26] to blend and rebrand Russian and Iranian [09:30] crude oil, so buyers can plausibly claim [09:33] that they don't know where it came from. [09:35] Okay, and then but then you also have to [09:37] have the financial setup because the [09:38] money has to make it back to the to the [09:41] regime. So that's where all the [09:43] financiers come in and some of these [09:44] people are also being sanctioned here. [09:46] There's a guy Hossein Gorbani-Zahed and [09:48] Mohammad Reza Rabar-Madani. [09:50] These are people that the US Treasury [09:53] describes as exchange house operators [09:56] who give the network access to foreign [09:58] currency and offshore shell companies so [10:01] the profits can be laundered back to the [10:04] family. Cuz so that's the model. You You [10:07] disguise the oil, you disguise the ship, [10:09] you disguise the money, and you do it at [10:11] scale. [10:12] And And Treasury says that this [10:14] generates billions of dollars a year for [10:16] the Iranian regime and increasingly for [10:18] Russia, too, because the same fleet has [10:20] been caught moving Russian oil around in [10:23] violation of [10:24] of uh the price caps that were put on [10:26] after the Ukraine invasion. [10:29] But that's a side point. Okay, one more [10:31] detail cuz I think it's it's important [10:33] to understand how this family operates. [10:36] Back in March, an NGO, an investigative [10:39] outlet, an American investigative outlet [10:41] called the Organized Crime and [10:43] Corruption Reporting Project, the OCCRP, [10:47] reported that Mohammad Hossein [10:49] Shamkhani, our friend up on the screen, [10:52] and his brother had built a 29 [10:55] million-dollar [10:57] property portfolio in Dubai. [11:00] They used aliases and passports [11:03] purchased from Caribbean Golden Passport [11:06] programs. Caribbean Golden Passport [11:08] programs are these There's these [11:09] Caribbean nations that offer [11:12] a passport [11:14] to someone to some you know, some rich [11:16] person can buy a citizenship, can buy a [11:19] passport [11:20] from one of these Caribbean nations. The [11:23] price is in the hundreds of thousands of [11:24] dollars. Usually ranges from like 200 to [11:27] 400,000 dollars [11:29] to purchase a golden passport. So these [11:32] guys used aliases and they get these [11:34] fake citizenships, these golden [11:35] passports. [11:37] Um and they hide their identities and [11:38] they buy real estate in Dubai with money [11:41] that they're that they're getting from [11:42] this illicit oil trade. [11:45] Okay, that's the family we're talking [11:46] about here. [11:48] So, let's circle back to what happened [11:49] yesterday and I want to put this in the [11:50] context of what's actually happening [11:52] right now in the war because I I [11:55] I think the timing here is very [11:57] important to what we're seeing. [11:59] So, a few weeks ago, back at the [12:01] beginning of July, there's a news item [12:04] that maybe you missed [12:05] about a stranded tanker in the Strait of [12:09] Hormuz. [12:12] Okay, and it was it was a strange story. [12:16] It was a strange for a number of [12:17] reasons. [12:19] Like look at this headline, Iran blames [12:21] US as ship runs aground in Hormuz, but [12:26] tracking data tells a different story. I [12:28] don't know if you remember this story. [12:29] It was a perfect example of why you have [12:32] to pay attention to what the Iranians [12:34] say and what it signals. So, Iranians [12:36] here's what happened. Iranian state [12:38] television [12:39] aired an on-screen alert about a foreign [12:43] container ship, foreign container ship, [12:46] that had run aground in the Strait of [12:48] Hormuz. [12:50] And they said that it ran aground in the [12:51] Strait of Hormuz because it chose a [12:53] route other than the one designated [12:56] under the Iranian, you know, by the [12:57] Iranians. [12:59] And therefore it was [13:02] uh shot at or threatened or it was [13:04] forced to run aground in the Strait of [13:06] Hormuz. And they said that the IRGC has [13:09] warned everyone that you should only use [13:11] the routes that we approve of. [13:14] So, [13:15] what they were doing was they were [13:17] warning all the all the shipping [13:19] companies, all the countries, that if [13:20] you don't use our route, you're going to [13:23] end up like this ship that that run [13:25] aground in the Strait of Hormuz. But [13:27] here's the problem. [13:29] And that's what this headline's about. [13:31] Iranian state TV blurred the ship's [13:33] name. It never showed the registration [13:35] number. [13:36] Um independent trackers like [13:39] TankerTrackers.com [13:41] and this Armenian news outlet, uh they [13:44] matched the paint scheme and the [13:46] container colors on the ship, and they [13:48] identified the ship as a ship called the [13:51] Arista. Now, the Arista is not some [13:54] random foreign vessel. [13:56] The Arista is a ship that used to sail [13:59] under the name Gauja, and it flew the [14:01] flag of Panama. [14:03] Until the US Treasury last July, a year [14:06] ago, sanctioned that ship. There are [14:08] ships on the list of sanctioned [14:10] entities, by the way, many ships. That's [14:11] part of how they how they sanction the [14:14] shadow fleets. They sanction the actual [14:15] ships, cuz they know which ones are [14:17] owned by criminal operations. So, this [14:19] ship was sanctioned by the US Treasury a [14:21] year ago [14:22] as part of the Shamkhani smuggling [14:24] network. [14:26] So, what happened? The ship got a new [14:27] name, it got a paint job, and it became [14:30] it now became the Arista. And instead of [14:32] having a flag of Panama, it now had the [14:33] flag of Comoros. [14:35] This is a classic shadow fleet move to [14:38] launder the ship's identity, the same [14:40] way they're laundering oil, right? So, [14:42] marine tracking shows that this ship, [14:45] the Arista, has actually been stuck in [14:47] the same spot since mid-March. [14:51] Okay, it it didn't run aground a couple [14:53] weeks ago. [14:55] And it was traveling between two Iranian [14:57] ports when it ran aground. So, Iran puts [14:59] out a segment threatening foreign ships [15:02] to respect its authority over the [15:03] Strait, using as the example a vessel [15:06] that is itself Iranian controlled and [15:09] already under US sanctions. [15:13] And they just tried to hide the name on [15:14] camera. [15:17] So, the network that Treasury sanctioned [15:19] yesterday is the same network behind [15:21] that ship sitting in the Strait of [15:22] Hormuz. [15:24] Now, [15:25] this is where we we now have to connect [15:27] what happened here to [15:30] what happened yesterday with these [15:31] sanctions this on the Shamkhani network [15:34] to exactly where we are in [15:38] what's going on in the war and what the [15:39] Trump administration is doing. [15:42] And I want to be very precise. I don't [15:43] want to overstate the case. [15:45] We all remember the MOU. Now now Trump [15:48] has said all the ceasefires over, but no [15:50] one has ever officially said we are no [15:52] longer bound by the MOU. The MOU is null [15:54] and void. [15:56] But point point seven of the 14-point [15:58] memorandum [16:00] calls on the United States to terminate [16:03] It says the United States will terminate [16:04] all types of sanctions against the [16:06] Islamic Republic of Iran in an [16:07] agreed-upon schedule as part of a final [16:09] deal. It calls for terminating [16:10] sanctions. Point nine in the MOU [16:14] says that pending the final deal the [16:15] United States of America will not impose [16:17] any new sanctions [16:19] and will not deploy additional forces in [16:21] the region. Now, to be fair to the [16:22] administration, if they wanted to claim [16:25] that they're still following the MOU, [16:26] which I don't think they they do [16:27] anymore, [16:29] um I don't think that yesterday's [16:31] Shamkhani sanctions technically violate [16:34] point seven or point nine because [16:36] those points actually are about [16:38] sanctions relief for the Islamic [16:40] Republic of Iran, the official state. [16:44] Uh [16:44] the the official state [16:46] uh and it's talking about UN [16:47] resolutions, IEA IAEA board resolutions, [16:52] the primary and secondary US sanctions [16:54] regime on the regime itself. [16:57] The Shamkhani network is not the Iranian [16:59] government. Okay, it's an illegal [17:01] smuggling and money laundering operation [17:03] run by a very well-connected family [17:07] that is exists to evade the sanctions [17:10] regime. [17:11] So, Washington could say that these [17:15] sanctions aren't have nothing to do with [17:17] the sanctions in the MOU if they wanted [17:19] to, but I don't think this is all in a [17:20] big parenthesis. I don't think it [17:22] matters anymore. I don't think we're [17:23] following the MOU anymore. [17:26] But that's really the point here. [17:30] Because I think this matters more than a [17:32] technicality either way. [17:35] Track with me here. [17:37] This Shamkhani network has been [17:39] operating exactly the way it's always [17:41] operated for for years. [17:44] Treasury says it's been a long time. [17:46] They started sanctioning them a year [17:47] ago. [17:49] They didn't discover the Shamkhani [17:50] network yesterday. [17:54] Right? They they put sanctions on in [17:56] July last year and in April of this [17:58] year. They could have kept adding names [18:00] to this list at any point over the last [18:02] 12 months. [18:04] Including through the weeks that the MOU [18:06] was supposedly in effect because the MOU [18:08] doesn't cover this. [18:09] But they chose to do this right now. 50 [18:12] new names, $130 million in in frozen [18:15] crypto yesterday. [18:18] Right when the United States is putting [18:20] back the naval blockade [18:23] and US strikes are hitting Iran for what [18:26] is it, the fourth day running? Heavy. [18:30] That's what I want to focus on, the [18:31] timing. [18:36] Right? Like point four of the memorandum [18:38] of understanding said that there would [18:39] be no block that the blockade would be [18:41] gone within 30 days and now the blockade [18:42] is back. [18:44] Right? Point nine said that there won't [18:45] be any additional forces, but now [18:47] they're pummeling them. So it's not [18:48] additional forces, but it's [18:51] I mean, point one said that they would [18:52] stop hostilities. So the the MOU is [18:54] obviously not in effect anymore. [18:58] But these sanctions are different than [18:59] strikes because strikes you you can is [19:02] like a switch. You can turn them on and [19:03] off. You can have strikes today but not [19:05] tomorrow. [19:07] Sanctions is different. You're not [19:08] you're not lifting and putting back [19:09] sanctions day by day. [19:13] So here's my read on the situation. [19:18] This is not the Americans using [19:21] financial and military pressure to bring [19:24] Iran back to the negotiating table to [19:28] reinstate the MOU. [19:32] That's what I think it's signaling here. [19:35] Because if that was the goal, [19:37] there'd be kind of a carrot and stick. [19:40] And you'd expect them to threaten [19:42] certain things, [19:43] do take actions like military strikes [19:46] that are easily start and stop. [19:52] But by putting sanctions on [19:56] of this type, by freezing the crypto [19:59] accounts, [20:00] they're escalating on the financial [20:02] front. [20:04] And [20:07] to open up the Strait of Hormuz, if all [20:09] it is is strikes on on missile [20:11] installations and drone installations [20:13] and and demining and and trying to get [20:16] control of the Strait of Hormuz, they [20:18] didn't have to do this. [20:21] They're escalating on the financial [20:23] front. [20:24] As the MOU is falling apart in other [20:27] ways. [20:28] So, even without an official declaration [20:30] that we consider the MOU null and void, [20:34] that's what they're basically saying. [20:35] So, my take is this. Let me be just be [20:37] clear about what I'm saying. [20:39] My take is that the MOU was a product of [20:42] a particular geostrategic moment. [20:46] When I mean Trump, either he wanted an [20:49] off-ramp or he was giving Iran a chance [20:51] at that moment or what or whatever he [20:52] just he just wanted to bring down the [20:54] cost of you know you know the cost of [20:57] oil. Whatever he was doing in that [20:58] moment, that moment, whatever his intent [21:01] was in signing the MOU, that moment is [21:03] over. [21:05] And whatever brought us to this moment [21:08] that we're in now, [21:12] Washington is not trying to get back to [21:14] the MOU. [21:17] It we're now back to maximum pressure, [21:19] financial, military, [21:22] and yesterday's sanctions aren't a lever [21:24] to pull Iran back to the bargaining [21:26] table [21:27] for that MOU. That is my take. I think [21:30] I'm repeating myself, but that's what I [21:32] wanted That's my point here. [21:36] And that's why this network matters. The [21:38] regime, [21:39] you know, the regime lost its uh [21:42] its security chief. Let's put this guy [21:44] up. [21:45] You know, so we know remember who we're [21:46] talking about here. The his his father, [21:49] the security chief, [21:51] was killed on day one of the war. But, [21:54] the money machine that keeps the cash [21:57] flowing to the regime and to its elite [21:59] families has been running this whole [22:02] time. [22:04] That's the machine that this guy built. [22:07] So, if Washington [22:09] um [22:11] it it [22:13] if the Americans want to [22:15] to really [22:17] bring down the regime, then this is how [22:19] to do it. They're choking off money. [22:22] Now, will it work? I don't know. [22:25] Let's see. Let's see what happens. You [22:26] know, sanctions evasion networks are [22:28] built to be resilient. Uh [22:31] always more shadow company always more [22:32] shell companies and shadow fleets. We'll [22:34] see. [22:36] But what yesterday tells you is that [22:37] Washington is ramping up [22:41] both military pressure and financial [22:43] pressure right now. [22:45] It's running them at simultaneously. [22:47] And both sets of actions are moving us [22:51] further away from the MOU, not closer to [22:54] it. [22:55] That's my point here. All right, that's [22:57] the Shamkhani story, and that's why [22:59] yesterday's sanctions matter. Thanks for [23:01] watching. Keep sharing, keep [23:03] subscribing. Make sure that you are [23:05] subscribed, that you are registered [23:07] for the webinar coming up on Monday. [23:10] Link in the description of this video. [23:12] Or you can go back and get the QR code. [23:15] And I'm going to I'm going to try to [23:16] keep bringing you this [23:18] this information as best I can. Thanks [23:20] for watching. [23:21] And uh [23:23] God bless.
