The U.S. Goes to Court to Seize Funds from One Million Barrels of Oil Due to Ties with the IRGC

The U.S. government has filed a lawsuit in the capital to seize the revenue from one million barrels of Iranian oil as compensation for its connection to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The U.S. Department of Justice stated in a statement released on Wednesday, April 6, that it seeks to confiscate "47 million dollars in revenue from the sale of nearly one million barrels" of Iranian crude oil. According to the department's argument, this money is subject to seizure because it belongs to the IRGC or the Quds Force, the IRGC's foreign branch, which are listed as foreign terrorist organizations. The case refers to "collusion from 2022 to 2024 for loading, storing, and selling Iranian crude oil for the benefit of the IRGC." Over the past four years, despite some of the toughest Western sanctions against Iran, the Islamic Republic has established a thriving oil trade, largely relying on a "ghost fleet" of tankers that reach Chinese ports by turning off their automatic identification systems and conducting loading and unloading operations in the depths of the oceans, changing oil branding, etc. According to the Justice Department's statement, those involved in this scheme also attempted to disguise the crude oil as a Malaysian product at a port in Croatia by providing fake documents and hiding the fact that the oil shipment was loaded at a port in Iran. Ultimately, after seizure, this shipment was sold by the U.S. government for 47 million dollars. Since returning to the White House, Donald Trump has once again adopted a "maximum pressure" policy towards Iran, which includes efforts to "reduce" Iranian oil exports to zero to prevent funding for its proxy militia groups in the region and to prevent it from acquiring nuclear weapons. Following the re-issuance of this policy by Trump, the U.S. government has imposed four rounds of economic sanctions against Tehran in the past two months, which include Iranian tankers and even small private refineries in China. Small and private refineries in China are currently the main buyers of Iranian oil. Previously, the "United Against Nuclear Iran" organization emphasized that Malaysia, due to its "economic dependence on China," is likely turning a blind eye to Iran's illegal activities. According to investigations by this U.S.-based organization, waters near Malaysia have currently become a hub for the illegal exchange of Iranian crude oil. Iranian oil is transferred in these waters to tankers "with ambiguous and unclear ownership" and then continues its journey towards China or other destinations. Previously, in 2022, an Iranian oil shipment wandered for five months from the Persian Gulf to Malaysian waters and then back west to Croatian ports, and later made headlines after the origin of its loading was revealed.