VIRA 1

The vessel is affiliated with Reel Shipping LLC, a designated entity based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Reel Shipping LLC manages a fleet of container vessels that forms part of a large shipping network controlled by Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani.
Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani–the son of Ali Shamkhani, the chief political adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader–leverages his father’s political influence to corrupt senior officials of the Iranian regime and to build and operate an extensive fleet of tankers and container vessels. This fleet transports crude oil and refined petroleum products originating from Iran and the russian federation, as well as other cargoes, to customers worldwide, generating revenues in the tens of billions of dollars. The Shamkhani-controlled shipping network comprises a large fleet of vessels, ship-management companies, and front (shell) companies that launder billions of dollars in proceeds from global sales of Iranian and russian crude oil and petroleum products, predominantly to buyers in the People’s Republic of China. The network undertakes extensive measures to conceal its operations and to obscure links to the Shamkhani family, Iran, and russia.
On 30 July 2025, the United States designated the vessel IMO 9088524.