US filed lawsuit for $47 million from sale of Iranian oil
Intermediaries disguised the oil as Malaysian origin (Photo: Getty Images)
The US has filed a civil lawsuit to confiscate $47 million earned from the sale of approximately 1 million barrels of oil in 2024, which is believed to have come from Iran. The oil was reportedly stored in Croatia, according to Bloomberg.
The US Department of Justice stated that the lawsuit alleges a scheme from 2022 to 2024 that facilitated the offloading, storage, and sale of Iranian oil. This plan was carried out on behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its Quds Force, both of which are designated as terrorist organizations.
According to reports, intermediaries disguised the oil's origin as Malaysian and manipulated the tanker identification system to hide that the oil had been loaded in Iran. The oil was stored at the Jadranski naftovod oil depot in Omišalj, Croatia.
The civil forfeiture lawsuit was filed on Wednesday in the US District Court for the District of Columbia.
Bloomberg notes that the Trump administration promised to exert maximum pressure on Iran to restrict the import of crude oil. The White House stated that these revenues help support Iran-backed militia groups. Recently, Washington imposed sanctions on a storage terminal in China after it was discovered that it was receiving Iranian oil.
For more details on US sanctions against China over Iranian oil, read the article by RBC-Ukraine.
