Israel Sanctions 18 Tankers of the IRGC Quds Force

In an unprecedented move, Israel has sanctioned '18 tankers of the Islamic Republic' which, according to the country's defense minister, are under the control of the IRGC Quds Force and part of the network financing Hamas and Hezbollah. The Israeli National Bureau for Countering Terrorism Financing announced on Thursday, August 25, that the sanctions on these tankers are part of Israel's economic campaign against terrorist organizations 'including the Quds Force, Hezbollah, and Hamas,' and were approved by Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. The bureau further stated that the IRGC Quds Force uses the revenues from the oil transported by these tankers to 'finance and strengthen terrorist organizations including Hezbollah and Hamas.' According to the Israeli National Bureau for Countering Terrorism Financing, the oil shipments from these 18 tankers are quotas set by the Islamic Republic for the Quds Force, which transfers them to foreign markets by circumventing international sanctions and violating maritime safety and environmental laws. The statement apparently refers to the disabling of the identification systems of Iranian tankers to conceal oil transactions, which significantly increases the risk of maritime accidents such as collisions with other vessels and oil spills. The statement did not specify whether the sanctioned Iranian tankers are active in transporting oil to China or Syria. Currently, Iran's only oil customers are China and Syria, with the former receiving over 95% of Iran's oil and the latter about 5%. According to statistics from the commodity information company, Kepler, provided to Radio Farda, Iran sent an average of 44,000 barrels of oil to Syria daily in the first half of this year. Numerous reports have emerged regarding the transportation of these oil shipments by IRGC tankers to Syria.