US Treasury Escalates Sanctions Targeting Houthi Smuggling and Illicit Revenue Networks
The US Treasury imposed new sanctions on individuals, companies, vessels, and facilitators accused of supporting Houthi oil sales, weapons procurement, and financial networks under expanded counterterrorism authorities.
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) - The US Department of the Treasury has announced a sweeping new sanctions action targeting what it described as extensive smuggling, oil sales, weapons procurement, and financial networks supporting the Iran-backed group Ansarallah, commonly known as the Houthis.
In a statement issued on Friday, the Treasury Department said its Office of Foreign Assets Control designated twenty-one individuals and entities and identified one vessel involved in transferring oil products, procuring weapons and dual-use equipment, and providing financial services to the Houthis.
The action also targets financial conduits linking the Iranian government to the Houthis, as well as front companies and facilitators operating in Yemen, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates.
According to the Treasury, the measures build on earlier actions aimed at restricting the Iranian government’s use of oil revenue to fund regional armed groups. The department said the Houthis continue to generate illicit income that enables them to sustain what it described as destabilizing regional activities and attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea.
“The Houthis threaten the United States by committing acts of terror and attacking commercial vessels transiting the Red Sea,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said. “Treasury is taking action to cut off nearly two dozen individuals and entities involved in transferring oil, procuring weapons, and providing financial services for this Iran-backed terrorist organization. Treasury will use all tools at its disposal to expose the networks and individuals enabling Houthi terrorism.”
The Treasury said that despite international sanctions, the Houthis continue to generate more than two billion dollars annually through illicit oil sales. According to the statement, the Iranian government both sells and provides a free monthly shipment of oil to the Houthis using Iranian-owned or affiliated companies based in Dubai.
The Treasury said Houthi leaders impose high fuel prices on Yemenis, using the proceeds to fund military operations. Zayd ‘Ali Ahmed Al-Sharafi was identified as operating Yemen-based Black Diamond Petroleum Derivatives and Al-Sharafi Oil Companies Services to import and export oil for the Houthi-led government. He was also described as maintaining multiple vessels used to transfer oil to the Houthis and as using Janat Al Anhar to evade sanctions.
The Treasury said the designations reflect continued efforts to disrupt what it described as the Houthis’ extensive financial, logistical, and procurement networks, as Washington intensifies pressure on illicit revenue streams supporting the group’s activities.