The recently unsealed court documents and a Department of Justice (DOJ) statement released on September 8, reveal that the U.S. government has confiscated approximately 1mn barrels of Iranian crude oil that was allegedly en route to China, BBC reports.
The DOJ stated that this marks the first-ever criminal resolution involving a company that breached sanctions by facilitating the illicit sale and transportation of Iranian oil. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which is designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the US, is accused of shipping over 980,000 barrels of oil.
The court documents reveal allegations that several entities linked to Iran's IRGC and the IRGC-Qods Force participated in a scheme to disguise the oil's origin and unlawfully sell it to China. It is claimed that profits from these oil sales support the IRGC's various malign activities, including the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, support for terrorism, and human rights abuses both domestically and internationally.
In April, the company responsible for operating the vessel transporting the oil, Empire Navigation, pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. The IRGC was fined approximately $2.5mn and placed on three years of corporate probation. The vessel, Suez Rajan Limited, transported the contraband to the US, incurring significant expenses related to the voyage, as per the DOJ.
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