US Imposes Sanctions on Iranian-Iraqi Weapon Smuggling Network

South Wealth Resources Company (SWRC) has trafficked hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of weapons to Iranian-backed Iraqi militias, according to the US Department of the Treasury

The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced Wednesday that it has imposed sanctions on an Iraq-based Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF) financial conduit, South Wealth Resources Company (SWRC), which has trafficked hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of weapons to IRGC-QF-backed Iraqi militias.  

According to a Treasury press release, SWRC and its two Iraqi associates have covertly facilitated the IRGC-QF’s access to the Iraqi financial system to evade sanctions. They are now are being designated as Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs).

“Treasury is taking action to shut down Iranian weapons smuggling networks that have been used to arm regional proxies of the IRGC Qods Force in Iraq, while personally enriching regime insiders,” said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. “The Iraqi financial sector and the broader international financial system must harden their defenses against the continued deceptive tactics emanating from Tehran in order to avoid complicity in the IRGC’s ongoing sanctions evasion schemes and other malign activities.”

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