Treasury Disrupts Iranian Regime’s Strait of Hormuz Extortion Network

OFAC Sanctions Illicit Maritime Insurance Scheme and Iran’s Shadow Fleet WASHINGTON—Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is taking further action against the Iranian regime’s desperate efforts to monetize the Strait of Hormuz and prop up the nation’s failing economy. OFAC is designating two firms integral to an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)-backed extortion scheme that forces commercial vessels to purchase mandatory maritime “insurance” to transit the Strait. Although this coverage purports to protect vessels from risks such as seizures, these risks are overwhelmingly created by Iran itself. Through the Persian Gulf Marine Insurance Company and HormuzSafe Marine Services Authority, the regime brokers IRGC-approved policies designed to extract revenue under the guise of maritime services, including payments in digital assets to evade sanctions—allowing Iran to tighten control over shipping activity and funnel funds into IRGC operations.“With its economy in freefall and inflation in the triple digits, the regime is desperate for cash,” said