Illicit Iranian programs targeted by sanctions and criminal charges, US says

The US announced a number of measures including sanctions and criminal charges targeting a range of malicious Iranian initiatives, including their cyberwarfare and drone programs, as well as Iran’s alleged illegal oil trafficking to fund foreign terrorist organizations.

The actions come as the Biden administration vowed to carry out a “multi-tiered” response to a drone strike by Iran-backed militants on a US military outpost in Jordan on Sunday, which killed three US service members and wounded more than 40 others.

The Justice Department announced charges Friday against four Iranian nationals, including a “senior official” in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and three Turkish nationals for allegedly participating in a “long-running scheme” to facilitate the “black-market sales of Iranian crude oil and other petroleum products” according to the indictment. The seven defendants face charges including supporting a foreign terrorist organization.

In a separate case announced Friday, prosecutors also charged a Chinese individual and an Omani individual with sanctions evasion and money laundering allegedly connected to “the trafficking and selling of Iranian oil to Chinese government-owned refineries,” according to a news release.

“The Justice Department will continue to use every authority we have to cut off the illegal financing and enabling of Iran’s malicious activities, which have become even more evident in recent months,” said Attorney General Merrick Garland in a statement.

DOJ also charged a Chinese individual and an Omani individual in Washington, DC with sanctions evasion and money laundering allegedly connected to “the trafficking and selling of Iranian oil to Chinese government-owned refineries,” according to a press release.

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