Two Individuals in the U.S. Admit to Violating U.S. Sanctions by Collecting Khums for Khamenei

The U.S. Department of Justice states that two citizens from Texas have confessed to conspiracy and violating the law in favor of the Islamic Republic. They are accused of violating U.S. sanctions by collecting khums for Khamenei. According to a press release published on the Department of Justice's website, Muzammil Zaidi and Asim Mujtaba Naqvi, both 40 years old and residing in Houston, Texas, confessed in federal court on Wednesday to conspiring to illegally transfer tens of thousands of dollars from the United States to Iran. These funds, part of which was for Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran, were obtained through the collection of khums and financial donations ostensibly for victims of the Yemeni civil war. According to court documents, Zaidi received a permit to collect khums, a religious tax on wealth, on behalf of several Imams in December 2018. Between December 2018 and December 2019, Zaidi and Naqvi collected these funds as well as alleged donations to help victims of the Yemeni civil war from individuals residing in the United States. They then transferred this money to Iran through a network of friends, family members, and colleagues outside the United States. The report states that they moved cash in amounts less than $10,000 to circumvent laws and conceal their activities. One of these transfers involved a group of 25 pilgrims traveling to Iraq, who manually transferred U.S. dollars to Iran. The transfer of these funds to Iran has been illegal since the U.S. imposed economic sanctions against Iran in 1995. Additionally, the U.S. State Department has designated Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism every year since 1984. On June 24, 2019, the U.S. President imposed further sanctions against the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, including a ban on providing any financial assistance to him. This case has been investigated by the FBI's Washington field office and the Houston FBI's counter-terrorism team, in collaboration with the FBI's field offices in Dallas, Chicago, and Detroit.