They change offices every few months and store documents only in hard copy. They scan their businesses for covert listening devices and divert all office calls to their cellphones. They know they are under surveillance, and assume their electronics are hacked.
Last month, Iran said it had dismantled a spy ring and arrested 17 Iranians it said were working for the CIA. The Iranian government was vague on the target of the espionage, for which some of the suspects were sentenced to death, but it now appears that it involved clandestine efforts to gather intelligence on oil sales.
The oil traders say foreigners, who they assume are working on behalf of the United States, have offered astronomical sums, ranging from $100,000 to $1 million, just for the bank account numbers the Oil Ministry used in a sale. Some of the foreigners have promised visas to the United States, the traders said.
Many of the 17 people accused of spying had worked in the oil and energy sector as traders and brokers, the two traders said. They had come under scrutiny because of contacts with foreigners on their trips abroad. Iran’s oil minister, Bijan Zanganeh, banned the release of oil data last year after Washington quit the Iran nuclear deal and imposed sanctions on Iran’s oil exports and financial transactions.Of the 10 people who on average contact the Oil Ministry each day to inquire about purchasing oil, Zanganeh has said, seven are not genuine customers. “They are after figuring out our entire system,” he told Iranian news media in June.
Last month, Britain seized an Iranian tanker in Gibraltar that it said was destined for Syria in violation of international sanctions against Syria. Iran retaliated by seizing a British tanker in the Persian Gulf, a pointed reminder that any military effort to enforce the oil sanctions could quickly heat up.
Iran has adopted an array of measures to circumvent sanctions, say traders and oil experts, including turning off the GPS locaters on its oil tankers, transferring oil from ship to ship in open waters, mixing its oil with Iraqi oil leaving the port of Basra, and falsifying shipping manifests to reflect a non-Iranian origin.
Trump is offering the supreme leader of Iran, Khamenei and his sons 2 invest their stolen wealth worth of over 90 billion dollars in the US, like the way Saudis do, instead of investing in Timbuktu! If Trump is allowed 2 build his towers in Iran, & his sons R allowed 2 do busines
According 2 Iranian Shia, Al-Mahdi, the 12th Imam who was hidden in the 9th century, will return alongside Jesus 2 bring peace &justice 2 the world. Of course, Jesus went hidden 9 centuries B4 Al-Mahdi, so Christianity and Shia will save this world, while Jews' Adonai HaShem beli
The post 9/11 copy of World War I in the Middle East, or the First Middle East War began in Afghanistan, then in Iran, then in Libya, and finally in Syria. Now the copy of the post 9/11 copy of World War II begins in Iran!
Iran should hurry up and build multiple atomic bombs! After this, Iran should go ahead ab work on building H-Bombs. The G W Bush-Blair war criminals era is on the way! A joint orange hair operation! This time an orange operation not an Ajax operation!
Justin Trudeau : ' For a financial contribution from ALL car manufacturers and the oil industry to the maintenance and securing of public roads paid by taxpayers.They alone have allowed the growth of these industries with dividends EXCLUSIVELY private '
Iran did that to itself by turning to abbhorant behavior in regards to it's sanctions, playing North Korea's card of continued disregard for nuclear restrictions and acquiring nuclear fusion for personal pride in absolute desolation to infidels, Israel comes to mind