OFAC Targets Iranian Business Network for Oil Sanctions Evasion
The Office of Foreign Assets Control designated a sanctions evasion network led by businessman Sitki Ayan that has allegedly facilitated hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of oil sales on behalf of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF), the agency said Dec. 8. The action supplements OFAC’s May 25 designations, which targeted a part of the network (see 2205250025).
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Ayan, chairman of the Gibraltar-registered ASB Group of Companies Limited, allegedly used his business network in partnership with IRGC-QF officials, including U.S.-designated Behnam Shahriyari and former IRGC-QF official Rostam Ghasemi, who played "a central role" in facilitating sales of oil products for the IRGC-QF. Ayan allegedly sells Iranian oil to buyers in China and elsewhere in East Asia, the U.A.E., and Europe, while arranging transport and funneling the proceeds back to the IRGC-QF.
“Today’s action complements the Treasury’s May designations and demonstrates the United States’ ongoing commitment to deny the IRGC-QF its revenue streams and to target those who abuse the international financial system in support of the group,” said Brian Nelson, Treasury's undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence. “The United States will continue to strictly enforce sanctions on the IRGC’s illicit oil sales trade.”