So Qorvis, a top-tier DC lobbying shop, quietly worked the Trump administration to loosen sanctions on Russian and Iranian oil. The pitch was simple: prices are above $100 a barrel, the market needs relief, and the Treasury should let tankers unload.
The Exemptions and Their Beneficiaries
A few days later the exemptions appeared. Iranian crude flipped from a ten-dollar discount to trading above the benchmark for the first time in four years.
The beneficiaries include Hossein Shamkhani’s networks and Etibar Eyyub, the Azerbaijani businessman the EU accuses of running a chunk of Russia’s shadow fleet. Qorvis has been advising both sanctioned figures for years, dressed up as representation for Wellbred Capital and 2Rivers Group.
Lobbying as Sanctions Evasion
This counts as lobbying. Sanctions evasion with a K Street address. The mechanics are familiar.
- A firm takes money from people under sanctions.
- It launders the relationship through corporate fronts.
- It then sells the story that enforcement is hurting the American consumer.
The Treasury issues a temporary waiver. The waiver gets extended. The shadow fleet keeps moving. The Kremlin keeps funding the war. The Iranian regime keeps funding its proxies. And the architects of the sanctions get blamed for high energy prices while those who lobbied to weaken them collect their fees.
The Coordinated Narrative
What makes this case worse is the timing. The administration spent months blaming Ukraine for energy costs, pointing at strikes on Russian refineries as the real problem.
At the same time, the Treasury was quietly opening a channel for Russian and Iranian crude. Those two ideas can be true at the same time.
Blame the victim, reward the aggressor, and let the middlemen profit.
The Required Response
The EU has already moved to expand Operation Irini against the shadow fleet. The US response should be straightforward.
Investigate Qorvis, sanction the front companies, and close the tanker loophole permanently. Anything less tells every sanctions-busting oligarch in the world that Washington is still open for business.
