Iranian Oil Sales via Intermediaries: How Tehran Avoids US Sanctions
Iran uses informal intermediaries known as 'trustees' to sell oil abroad and transfer revenues when conventional banking, insurance and shipping channels are unavailable under US sanctions. The arrangement makes it difficult to verify how much revenue reaches the state treasury, who controls funds in transit, and who is responsible for delayed or lost payments. The issue returned to public attention after an Iranian newspaper alleged that a trust fund created during Mohsen Paknejad's tenure as oil minister owed the National Iranian Oil Company nearly $2 billion from foreign oil sales, and after Paknejad resigned on 4 October 2026; official media cited personal reasons and no public investigation has confirmed the allegations caused the resignation.
Why it matters: This illustrates the sanctions theme, showing how informal oil intermediation sustains Iranian export revenue while shifting control over public assets to opaque private networks and complicating fiscal oversight.