The United States has filed a civil forfeiture complaint seeking $47 million in proceeds from the sale of approximately 1 million barrels of oil, allegedly sourced from Iran and stored in Croatia. The oil, sold in 2024, is said to have been sold under a scheme that ran from 2022 to 2024, aimed at benefiting the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its Qods Force, both of which are designated as terrorist organizations by the U.S. government.
According to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the facilitators of this operation disguised the origin of the oil, labeling it as Malaysian in origin. They also tampered with the automatic identification system of a tanker to hide the fact that the oil had been loaded in Iran. The oil was then stored at the Jadranski Naftovod facility in Omišalj, Croatia.
This action is part of the Trump administration’s “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran, aimed at curbing the country’s crude oil exports. The U.S. government has expressed concerns that Iranian oil sales provide financial support to Tehran-backed militia groups. In a related move, the U.S. recently imposed sanctions on a storage terminal in China after it was found to be handling Iranian oil.
The civil forfeiture complaint was filed on Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
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