Yashar Soltani: Hossein Shamkhani received $30 billion in oil cargoes

Yashar Soltani, a journalist and researcher specialising in economic corruption, says in his latest revelation about the Islamic Republic's oil sales network that Hossein Shamkhani, son of Ali Shamkhani, received oil cargoes worth more than $30.165 billion in 478 shipments up to 21 May 2026 — even though, according to him, he owed the country several hundred million dollars from earlier oil sales.

According to Soltani, two other oil sellers have also kept receiving cargoes despite heavy debts: Mohammad Hadi Momenin received more than $11 billion in cargoes and owes about $400 million, and Hossein Aghayari received cargoes worth $4.684 billion and owes about $779 million. These figures are Soltani's claims, and no independent body has so far confirmed or denied them.

A security network selling oil

Soltani had previously said that Iran's oil sales have slipped out of the Oil Ministry's structure and into the hands of a security network of “trustees” and middlemen numbering about 1,600 people. According to him, four sellers made about $1.5 billion in profit from price differences and discounts on cargoes alone, and nearly 100 million barrels of oil have no clear accounting record of their final destination. Ali-Akbar Pourebrahim, a former oil industry executive, has also estimated the oil money that was never returned at up to $11 billion.

Hossein Shamkhani's name has for years been at the centre of the Islamic Republic's covert oil sales case. In July 2025 the US Treasury Department sanctioned a network of companies and tankers linked to him, calling it a shipping empire that moves billions in profits from the sale of Iranian and Russian oil, mostly to Chinese buyers. Confidential documents published in August–September this year also pointed to Iranian crude being loaded onto sanctioned tankers linked to him, bound for Chinese ports.

Oil money in insiders' pockets

The revelation comes as the US naval blockade has almost completely halted the Islamic Republic's oil exports and the government's floating oil in Asian waters has also run out. Meanwhile, the dollar has passed 270,000 tomans on the Tehran market, and the people of Iran are bent double under the weight of inflation and soaring prices.

Soltani's claims show that oil revenue, which should be spent on Iranians' livelihoods, has for years been handed over, through an unaccountable channel, to a network of associates close to the top of power; a network that has received fresh cargoes even while carrying heavy debts.

According to Yashar Soltani, Hossein Shamkhani received 478 oil cargoes despite owing several hundred million dollars.