Sanctioned by Washington and abandoned by almost all of its clients, Singapore’s Strait Shipbrokers is fighting the US government in court to secure its survival.

The tanker broker and managing director Murtuza Mustafa Munir Basrai were blacklisted in October 2020 for allegedly helping to facilitate the sale of Iranian petrochemicals.

The company has already lost the first round in a case before Chief Judge Beryl Howell of the US District Court for the District of Columbia against the US State and Treasury departments.