Without Malaysia and Singapore, Iran couldn’t move its sanctioned oil, a US official says
Brian Nelson, the U.S. Treasury’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, spoke during a four-day visit to Singapore and Malaysia that the department said was aimed toward accelerating work to counter financing and revenue generation by Iran and its proxies.
The trip comes at a time when Treasury is specializing in financing militant groups traversing Southeast Asia, including through fundraising and the illegal sale of Iranian oil.
Nelson told reporters that the United States was trying to forestall Malaysia from becoming a jurisdiction where the Palestinian militant group Hamas could each raise funds after which transfer them.
He said the United States saw shipments of Iranian oil near Singapore and throughout the region.
Last December, the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on 4 Malaysian firms, which it accused of being fronts supporting Iran’s drone production.
Singapore is a serious shipping hub. Insurers and other marine services providers operating in Singapore have warned against dodging the value cap on Russian crude, complaining that it’s difficult to verify that documents promising to purchase oil at prices of $60 or less are accurate.
