US to “disrupt” oil shipments to Syria by sanctioning Russian and Iranian companies

In an effort to economically isolate the Syrian government, the US has promised to ‘disrupt’ oil shipments to Syria via a new round of sanction against Russian and Iranian companies

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In a statement issued by the US Treasury Department, it claimed that six individuals and three organizations linked to the transfer of oil to Syrian government-owned ports had already been sanctioned as part of this policy.

The statement went on to add that oil is being imported to Syria by Iran in defiance of American sanctions as part of a “complex and malign scheme” to bolster the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

The rational offered is that Russian companies act as the middlemen for the supply of Iranian oil to Syrian ports and that money from sales revenue generated by the Syrian state is then transferred to Islamist groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah.