U.S Allows Ships Sanctioned Over Iran Trade To Be Scrapped

Dubai-based GMS, a buyer of ships and offshore vessels for recycling, said that it received the first U.S permit to buy vessels sanctioned over Iran trade.

According to the licenses issued in April, four container ships will be scrapped, namely the Yogi, the Timon, the Rantanplan and the Bigli, said GMS Chief Executive Officer Anil Sharma.

The above-mentioned vessels were named in a Treasury Department notice in July 2025, which also announced “massive action” against the shadow fleet and entourage of Hossein Shamkhani, whose father was an adviser to Iran’s former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei.

GMS has started the process to acquire the ships, but buyers in the next stage of the deal are cautious since the ships are under sanctions.

The company has requested OFAC to remove them from its blacklist.

Scraping firms and dealers like GMS have long complained about the lack of a safe and legal method to remove ships from the expanding shadow fleet, which includes old, obsolete vessels operating to flout sanctions.

The licences could pave the way for more such ships to reach the end of their useful lives.

“Sanctions did not eliminate the trade; they eliminated the rules. The business is still going on, but it is not a rule-based thing,” said Sharma. “If you take away this old vessel, that’s one less vessel to carry this sanctioned oil.”

These ships were operated by United Arab Emirates-based Marvise SMC DMCC, which was managed by Shamkhani’s network, according to the Treasury Department.

The owner of the vessels was separate from Marvise and not sanctioned, according to Sharma, who chose not to name the company.

The shadow fleet has increased after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and after the U.S.-Iran war.

These vessels which which operate without proper documents, insurance or maintenance, carry oil from Iran, Venezuela and Russia despite sanctions.

Washington had added more ships to this blacklist since the U.S-Iran war began in February.