The US blockade on the Straits of Hormuz caused quite a lot of trouble for the IRGC and pushed them to send in the local militia in Iraq, the Asaib Ahl al-Haq (AAH), to meet with Ahmed Salim Said, who was designated by OFAC in July 2025 for assisting in the sale of Iranian oil. They wanted him to help them to find a way to ship out oil from the port of Khor Al-Zubair. Despite his designation, Said preserves his exclusive control of the clandestine Iraqi oil smuggling mechanism that serves the financial needs of the IRGC.
For now, there have already been two such meetings that were held in Bagdad, where the Militia representatives met with people from SOMO and agents of Ahmed Said. In the first meeting, the Iranian party proposed that Adam Polemis, the owner of New Shipping LTD – LIB, will use his connections in the United States and talk to the Greek lobby, so that the administration may exclude tankers coming from Iraqi ports from the sea blockade. He should argue that this is essential to avoid severe damage to the Iraqi economy.
New Shipping LTD – LIB serves the financial needs of the IRGC for over five years in chartering to them, through Iraqi entities, VLCC tankers that are used as charging hubs for mixed fuels and oil coming from Iran and Iraq, while the Iraqi sources are under control of militias with affinity to Iran. The loaded tankers sell this product as a genuine Iraqi brand and most of the revenue flows into the pockets of the IRGC.
The services provided by the Greek company to the IRGC is based on tankers that are active in the anchorage of the Khor al Zubair port. In the past, part of the oil and fuel shipments for the IRGC that went through this mechanism even reached ports in Southern US. New Shipping is the successor of other Greek shippers that served the IRGC in recent years, including Kryton Lendudis that partnered up with Salim Said.
The nonchalance in which Greek magnates trade in Iranian oil and derivates, despite existing sanctions, makes you wonder.