Delruba

The US-sanctioned 'Delruba' has arrived at berth 301 of the Terminal Portuário de Santa Catarinain in São Francisco do Sul, en route from Asaluyeh, to discharge a 60,000-ton cargo of urea on Oct 4, 2025. The vessel, part of Tehran’s state-linked IRISL fleet, has been under US Treasury sanctions since June 2020, restricting American and allied entities from providing insurance, financing, or services to it. The unloading operation was completed on Oct 8. The cargo, valued at roughly $24.4 million, consisted of granulated urea bound for Brazil’s fertilizer industry. Customs documentation showed that the fertilizer was originating from Pardis Petrochemical Company, an Iranian producer accused by US officials of financing the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. The US Office of Foreign Assets Control has listed the 'Delruba' as a designated vessel, though Pardis Petrochemical itself has not been individually blacklisted. The company operates within Iran’s petrochemical sector, a field subject to sweeping secondary restrictions that expose foreign traders to penalties. Zhe ship’s docking underscored a widening gap between US sanction enforcement and Brazil’s trade engagement with Tehran.