5. OFAC targets Iranian oil network and warns that Strait of Hormuz "toll" payments are a sanctions violation
On 28 May 2026, OFAC designated five Hong Kong-based front companies — Growth Trading, Damai Technology, Tida Co.
BY GEOPOLITICS DESK · JUNE 4, 2026 · 1 MIN READ
On 28 May 2026, OFAC designated five Hong Kong-based front companies — Growth Trading, Damai Technology, Tida Co., Mehdiyev Trading, and Worth Seen Energy — under E.O. 13224 for facilitating oil shipments for Sepehr Energy Jahan, the oil sales arm of Iran's Armed Forces General Staff. OFAC also designated Iran's "Persian Gulf Strait Authority" on 27 May 2026, explicitly warning that any payment — whether in fiat currency, digital assets, informal swaps, or nominally charitable donations — made to comply with Iranian demands for Strait of Hormuz transit tolls constitutes a sanctions violation and risks exposure to secondary sanctions. Shipping counsel, trade-finance teams, and maritime insurers need to update client guidance: toll-payment requests at the Strait of Hormuz are now an OFAC tripwire, and correspondent-bank secondary-sanctions exposure is explicitly in play for foreign financial institutions that facilitate these payments.