According to the Treasury Department, 22 businesses in Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates, and Turkey were sanctioned by the United States on Wednesday for their assistance in the sale of Iranian oil.
Iran’s most potent paramilitary group, the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, benefits from the oil transactions, the statement added. Quds has been classified as a foreign terrorist organisation by the United States.
In order to get around US sanctions, the Quds Force uses front firms outside of Iran that move hundreds of millions of dollars in proceeds from the sale of Iranian oil via offshore accounts, according to the Treasury.
The Treasury Department, which has issued rounds of sanctions targeting such businesses, claims the revenues support Iran’s weapons development and proxy organisations around the region.
“The Iranian regime relies heavily on its shadow banking system to fund its destabilising nuclear and ballistic missile weapons programs, rather than for the benefit of the Iranian people,” said Scott Bessent, Secretary of the Treasury.
