The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned on Wednesday an Iraq-based Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force financial conduit, South Wealth Resources Company (SWRC), which has allegedly trafficked hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of weapons to IRGC-QF-backed Iraqi militias.
Two individuals, Makki Kazim Al Asadi and Muhammed Husayn Salih al-Hasani, were also sanctioned for allegedly facilitating IRGC-QF shipments and financial operations via SWRC. They and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, a previously sanctioned Iraqi adviser to IRGC-QF Gen. Qassem Soleimani, received commission for contracts with SWRC.
“Treasury is taking action to shut down Iranian weapons-smuggling networks that have been used to arm regional proxies of the IRGC Q[u]ds 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.”
The United States officially designated the IRGC as a terrorist group in April.
