US Targets $47 Million in Iranian Oil Proceeds in Sanctions & Terrorism Financing Case

The United States has initiated a civil forfeiture complaint targeting $47 million in proceeds derived from the clandestine sale of nearly one million barrels of Iranian petroleum. Filed in the District Court for the District of Columbia, the case alleges a sophisticated international scheme, spanning 2022 to 2024, that sought to benefit the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its elite Qods Force (IRGC-QF)—both designated as Foreign Terrorist Organisations (FTOs).

According to the complaint, the facilitators used deceptive maritime practices to disguise the Iranian origin of the crude oil. These included falsifying shipping documents, manipulating the tanker’s automatic identification system (AIS), and fraudulently declaring the oil as Malaysian. The cargo was stored at a Croatian port using US dollar payments routed through American financial institutions—institutions that would have otherwise rejected the transactions had the Iranian ties been known.

In 2024, the oil was sold and the United States seized $47 million in proceeds from that sale. The complaint asserts that the oil was the property of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), which has allegedly committed a federal crime of terrorism by materially supporting the IRGC and IRGC-QF. The IRGC is widely accused of engaging in a range of malign activities, from supporting terrorism and proliferating weapons of mass destruction to committing human rights abuses both inside Iran and abroad.

Should the US government succeed in proving its case, the seized funds may be directed—wholly or in part—to the US Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund, offering a route for compensation to those harmed by state-sponsored acts of terror.

This legal action underscores the ongoing enforcement of US sanctions against Iran and highlights the continued focus on disrupting funding streams for designated terrorist entities. The case is being investigated by the FBI’s Minneapolis Field Office and Homeland Security Investigations in New York, with legal efforts led by prosecutors from the District of Columbia and the Department of Justice’s National Security Division.

This development signals Washington’s unyielding stance on sanction evasion and its commitment to holding state-sponsored actors accountable under international financial and counterterrorism frameworks.

Read the press release here.