The U.S. Department of Justice announced that it has filed two civil complaints in a federal court in Washington, D.C., seeking to confiscate more than $15.3 million in assets linked to an illegal Iranian oil sales network. The network is attributed to Mohammad-Hossein Shamkhani, the son of Ali Shamkhani, a former senior official of the Iranian regime who previously served as secretary of the Supreme National Security Council.
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According to U.S. officials, the network used front companies, intermediaries, and a fleet of vessels to sell Iranian oil while concealing its origin in order to evade U.S. sanctions.
According to the Department of Justice, this complex structure allowed regime operatives to launder billions of dollars from global sales of Iranian and Russian oil through various financial systems—revenues that largely originated from Iran’s national resources and wealth.
U.S. officials say that a significant portion of the oil buyers involved in this network are located in China, and the transactions were conducted in ways designed to conceal the oil’s origin and transfer the money.
The U.S. Department of Justice said the action was taken to prevent the misuse of the U.S. financial system to finance the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and networks affiliated with it.
U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi said that under the leadership of President Donald Trump, there will be zero tolerance for individuals who use the U.S. financial system to support enemies of the country.
She added that the defendants in this case helped finance the IRGC by violating sanctions and transferring millions of dollars, and they will now face serious legal consequences.
