The United States has imposed sanctions on 22 entities linked to a transnational network engaged in illicit oil trade on behalf of the Iranian regime.

The U.S. Department of State annonuced that Iran's “Shadow Banking” network had operated through foreign front companies to move funds that "support the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF), finance Tehran’s destabilizing activities and campaigns of terror, and advance its ballistic missile programs—actions that threaten international peace and security."

"Iran uses front companies based in Hong Kong, United Arab Emirates, and Türkiye as part of this network to help sanctioned Iranian government entities generate revenue from the sale of petroleum and other commodities subject to U.S. sanctions," the Department of State said and added that the United States would continue to deny Iran access to financial networks and the global banking system as long as Iran continues its destabilizing activities. 

According to the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, the IRGC-QF primarily leverages front companies outside of Iran, which use 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. 

Refineries purchasing Iranian oil, transfer payments to these front companies, which then move the funds to other front company accounts also controlled by the IRGC-QF.  

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