The United States offered a reward of up to $15 million for information to disrupt financial networks of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, including its Qods Force, the State Department said on Wednesday.
Washington said Chinese national Wang Shaoyun and Omani oil trader Mahmood Rashid Amur al Habsi worked with front companies in China, Oman and Turkey to sell sanctioned Iranian oil worth more than $100 million to Chinese state refineries, using the US financial system.
The State Department said the scheme helped fund the Guard’s overseas operations, including support for armed groups.
The Justice Department charged Wang and al Habsi in February with violating US sanctions and conspiring to launder money.
Al Habsi was also placed under Treasury sanctions in 2021, which blocked his assets in US jurisdiction and barred Americans from doing business with him.
The department said al Habsi and his partners used maritime vessels and front companies in Asia and the Middle East to transfer Iranian oil, while also relying on US banks to move money.
The indictment alleges al Habsi secured a $16.5 million loan in 2020 from US firms to buy an oil tanker later used to move sanctioned crude.
The FBI issued a federal arrest warrant for al Habsi in January and described him as having ties to Iran and China. The wanted poster lists him as 40 years old, about 5’11” and 170 pounds, and says he worked as an oil trader.
The State Department said the Revolutionary Guards, a US-designated foreign terrorist organization, has financed attacks globally and does not operate without revenue streams from illicit oil sales.
It urged people with information about Wang, al Habsi, or their networks to contact American authorities.
