Treasury Dept. designates 22 entities linked with selling Iranian oil for IRGC-QF
The US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated 22 entities based in Hong Kong, the UAE, and Turkey, for facilitating the sale of Iranian oil that funds the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force (IRGC-QF), the department announced on Wednesday.
IRGC-QF leverages front companies outside of Iran, using "offshore accounts to transfer hundreds of millions of dollars in profits derived from Iranian oil sales to circumvent sanctions and funnel funds toward IRGC-QF terrorist activities," OFAC said.
Refineries purchase Iranian oil, and then transfer payments to these front companies, who in turn, move funds to other front company accounts also controlled by IRGC-QF, OFAC stated.
IRGC-QF uses these proceeds to fund weapons programs and support Iran's terror proxies across the Middle East.
The IRGC-QF is Iran's most powerful terrorist force.
"The Iranian regime relies heavily on its shadow banking system to fund its destabilizing nuclear and ballistic missile weapons programs, rather than for the benefit of the Iranian people,' Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.
"Treasury remains focused on disrupting this shadowy infrastructure that allows Iran to threaten the United States and our allies in the region," he added.
OFAC had previously designated over 30 individuals and entities tied to Iranian brothers who collectively laundered billions of dollars" through front companies for the Iranian regime, OFAC noted.
These sanctioned entities had ties to the "Shadow Banking Network," which is involved in money laundering on behalf of Iran. The network has laundered billions of dollars through Iranian exchange houses and foreign front companies, according to OFAC.
The Zarringhalam brothers and their associates used front companies based in the United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong to help certain Iranians generate revenue from the sale of petroleum and other commodities used to build nuclear weapons.
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