The United States Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), in a press release on May 1, announced its designation of Amir Dianat, an Iranian regime agent in Iraq and his company which operates as a front company for the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) Quds Force.
“Dianat, who is also known as Ameer Abdulazeez Jaafar Almthaje, is involved in IRGC-QF efforts to generate revenue and smuggle weapons abroad. OFAC is also designating Taif Mining Services LLC, a company owned, controlled, or directed by Dianat,” read the press release.
Simultaneous with OFAC’s action, the U.S Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia filed criminal charges against Dianat and one of his business associates for violations of sanctions and money laundering laws and filed a related civil forfeiture action alleging that approximately $12 million is subject to forfeiture as funds involved in these crimes and as assets of a foreign terrorist organization.
“The Iranian regime and its supporters continue to prioritize the funding of international terrorist organizations over the health and well-being of the Iranian people,” said Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin. “The United States remains committed to working with financial institutions, non-profit organizations, and international partners to facilitate humanitarian trade and assistance to the Iranian people.”
“Dianat, an associate of IRGC-QF officials Behnam Shahriyari and Rostam Ghasemi, has supported IRGC-QF smuggling operations for several years, including efforts aimed at the shipment of weapons including missiles. The IRGC-QF has relied on Dianat to secure entry for vessels carrying IRGC-QF shipments and has used his business connections to facilitate logistics requirements. Dianat has been directly involved in IRGC-QF efforts to smuggle shipments from Iran to Yemen,” read the statement.
“Dianat has been involved in developing additional illicit business opportunities to generate revenue for the IRGC-QF, and in 2019, leveraged Taif Mining Services LLC, a company under his control, to procure an oil tanker,” the U.S. Treasury’s statement added.
For years, the Iranian Resistance has emphasized the role of the Iranian regime’s front companies and agents in Iraq in circumventing sanctions and the funding regime’s terrorist activities in Iraq. On January 26, 2007, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) exposed a list of 32,000 names and account numbers of the regime’s Quds Force agents in Iraq. Many of these agents later became top officials of the Iraqi government, who not only plundered Iraq’s wealth and killed innocent people but also attacked and killed members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) in Camp Ashraf and Camp Liberty in Iraq.