The United States issued new designations on an international oil smuggling and money laundering network in Iran that supports multiple terrorist groups.
Despite the country's designation on Iranian oil trade, the U.S is still seeking to reinstate the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, according to a May 25 State Department news release. However, anyone who provides support for or purchases oil from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force, or those affiliated with them, risks facing sanctions from the U.S.
“While the United States continues to seek a mutual return to full implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, we will strictly enforce sanctions on Iran’s illicit oil trade,” Blinken said, according to the release. “We will not hesitate to target those who provide critical support for the IRGC or Hizballah and facilitate their access to the international financial system.”
The oil smuggling and money laundering network is reportedly being run by Behnam Shahriyari, an official of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force, and former official Rostam Ghasemi, according to Blinken’s statement. Both Ghasemi and Shahriyari are previously designated persons.
Senior levels of the Russian Federation and other state-run economic enterprises are backing this group, Blinken said in the release. The illicit trade group is responsible for the sale of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of oil which has funded the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force and their support of proxy militant groups.
The State Department first put the group on its list of foreign terrorist organizations during the Trump administration in 2019, Reuters reported May 25. This made history as the first time the U.S. labeled another country's military as a terrorist group.
Former President Trump decided to abandon the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in 2015, which the Biden administration has attempted to reengage, the Reuters article reported. The agreement would see that world powers lift their international financial sanctions on Tehran in exchange for restrictions on its nuclear program.
