WASHINGTON, 14 August 2021, (TON):  The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), designated individuals and businesses involved in an international oil smuggling network that supports Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF). Senior IRGC-QF officials use proceeds from their involvement in Iranian oil exports to help fund the group’s destabilizing regional activities.

OFAC’s action targets a foreign broker, Mahmood Rashid Amur Al Habsi, who has partnered with senior IRGC-QF officials and used several companies to facilitate shipments of Iranian oil to foreign customers, including buyers in East Asia.

Director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control Andrea M. Gacki said “the IRGC-QF is using revenues from its Iranian petroleum sales to fund its malign activities at the expense of the Iranian people.”

“These sales rely on key foreign intermediaries to obscure the IRGC-QF’s involvement, and Treasury will continue to disrupt and expose anyone supporting these efforts.”

Today’s action is being taken pursuant to the counterterrorism authority, Executive Order (E.O.) 13224, as amended. The IRGC-QF was designated pursuant to E.O. 13224 in 2007 for support to numerous terrorist groups.