BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 28. The U.S. government
has filed a civil forfeiture complaint in the District of Columbia
seeking to seize $47 million in proceeds from the sale of nearly
one million barrels of Iranian petroleum, Trend reports.
The funds are alleged to be linked to the Islamic Revolutionary
Guard Corps (IRGC) and its Qods Force (IRGC-QF), the U.S.
Department of Justice reported.
According to the complaint, between 2022 and 2024,
intermediaries disguised the Iranian origin of the oil by
falsifying documents and manipulating ship tracking systems,
presenting it as Malaysian oil. The shipment was stored in Croatia,
with transactions routed through U.S. financial institutions that
would have blocked them had they known the oil’s true source.
The complaint also claims that the National Iranian Oil Company
(NIOC) played a role in financing the IRGC’s activities, including
weapons proliferation, support for terrorism, and human rights
violations. If successfully forfeited, the seized funds may be
allocated to the U.S. Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism
Fund.
The FBI and Homeland Security Investigations are leading the
case, with prosecution handled by the Justice Department’s National
Security Division.
