The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control has sanctioned several foreign companies and vessels for transporting commodities to finance the terror activities of the Houthi militant group.
According to the agency, Marshall Islands-based Reneez Shipping and the Hongkong Unitop Group operated Palau-flagged Reneez and Panama-flagged Eternal Fortune, respectively, to ship cargos on behalf of Houthi financial facilitator Sa’id al-Jamal.
The Treasury found that al-Jamal’s shipping network uses falsified documents and manipulates automatic identification system data to conceal illegal activities.
The United States designated al-Jamal in 2021 for providing financial, material, or technological support to the Iran-based Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force, which the U.S. sanctioned in 2007 for supporting multiple terrorist groups.
In February, the U.S. Department of State designated the Houthis as a global terrorist organization for their attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. According to The New York Times, the attacks caused global trade delays and increased commodity prices.