On February 2, 2024, as tensions between the United States and the Iranian governments increased, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the unsealing of three federal cases as part of its efforts to combat the illicit trafficking of Iranian oil that finances Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a designate Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), and its Qods Force (IRGC-QF). The latter is Iran’s main mechanism for furnishing support to terrorist organizations abroad.[1]
[1] DOJ, Justice Department Announces Terrorism and Sanctions-Evasion Charges and Seizures Linked to Illicit, Billion-Dollar Global Oil Trafficking Network that Finances Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Its Malign Activities, Feb. 2, 2024.