Treasury Targets Additional Elements of Iran’s “Shadow Banking” Network

Illicit Infrastructure Funding the Regime’s Elite and the IRGC-QF WASHINGTON — Today, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is designating 22 entities based in Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Türkiye for their roles in facilitating the sale of Iranian oil that benefits the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF). The IRGC-QF is Iran’s most powerful paramilitary force and a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). 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.