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OFAC adds two Iranian maritime insurers to sanctions list
HormuzSafe Marine Services Authority and Persian Gulf Marine Insurance Company were designated as blocked counterparties for U.S. persons, and the Treasury said HormuzSafe accepts bitcoin to bypass Western sanctions.
The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control added two Iranian maritime insurance firms to its Specially Designated Nationals list on July 29, designating HormuzSafe Marine Services Authority and Persian Gulf Marine Insurance Company as blocked counterparties for U.S. persons and for transactions within or transiting the United States.
The OFAC notice says the entities were listed under Executive Order 13902 for operating in Iran’s financial sector and are subject to secondary sanctions, and it also describes HormuzSafe as having a bitcoin-settled insurance proposal.
According to the Treasury Department, HormuzSafe and PGMIC support an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-backed scheme that forces commercial vessels to buy purported insurance for passage through the Strait of Hormuz, and Treasury says HormuzSafe accepts bitcoin and other digital assets to bypass Western sanctions.
OFAC rules require U.S. persons to freeze property of the blocked entities if it enters the United States or comes under a U.S. person’s possession or control, and U.S. persons generally face prohibitions on transactions involving blocked property unless authorized or exempt, with reporting due within 10 business days under OFAC guidance.
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