San Marino to deregister LPG carrier after latest US sanctions on Iran

The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued new sanctions on 19 May against 19 vessels allegedly “involved in Iranian petroleum and petrochemical shipments to foreign customers.”

Among them was 1992-built, San Marino-flagged very large gas carrier (VLGC) Double In. According to OFAC and shipping databases, the vessel is owned by UK-based Science Obedient International Company Limited.

“We are aware of it and the vessel is in the process of being deregistered ex officio pursuant to the provisions of San Marino regulation,” a spokesperson for the San Marino Ship Register told Riviera.

Under the regulation, the San Marino Maritime Authority has the right to remove vessels from its registry if the vessel, its ownership or its management appears at any time on sanctions lists issued by OFAC or under the UK Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018.

OFAC said the ship “has transported millions of barrels of Iranian LPG since 2025.”

Double In is the only vessel among the newly designated ships flying a European flag. The UK-based entity listed in official corporate records names a Chinese national as its director. No immediate contact details for the company could be found.

The latest OFAC sanctions also targeted seven additional LPG carriers, four VLCCs, one Aframax tanker and six chemical/oil product tankers.

Beyond targeting ships and their owners or managers, OFAC also designated “a prominent Iranian foreign currency exchange house and associated front companies that oversee hundreds of millions of dollars in transactions on behalf of sanctioned Iranian banks.”

“As Treasury systematically dismantles Tehran’s shadow banking system and shadow fleet under Economic Fury, financial institutions must be alert to how the regime manipulates the international financial system to wreak havoc,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.