US Sanctions Iran–Russia–Syria Oil Network That Funded Terror Groups

Mohammad Amer Alchwiki poses in Moscow in an undated photo release by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Alchwiki was sanctioned for participating in an illicit Iran-Russia-Syria oil shipping network. U.S. Department of the Treasury

The United States sanctioned on Nov. 20 an illicit network that used a Russian shipping company to deliver millions of barrels of Iranian oil to the Assad regime in Syria, according to the Treasury. In return, Syria funded the Hamas and Hezbollah terrorist groups.

The participants used a complex scheme to evade existing U.S. sanctions, including the use of a pharmaceutical company to conceal the nature of payments sent from Iran to Russia.