On November 14, 2024, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control designated a total of 26 individuals, entities and vessels that allegedly had a role in selling Iranian oil to Syria and the People’s Republic of the China (“PRC”), which generated hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (“IRGC-QF”) and Ansarallah (also known as the Houthis). The U.S. designated the IRGC-QF in October 2007 for supporting multiple terrorist groups and designated the Houthis as a Specially Global Terrorist in February 2024.
According to OFAC, all of the new designees are associated with the Al-Qatirji Company, a company that supports that IRGC-QF and the Houthis by exporting millions of barrels of Iranian oil to Syria and East Asia. The Al-Qatirji Company was designated by OFAC in September 2018 for its ties to the Government of Syria. OFAC reported that, as of 2024, the Al-Qatirji Company had become one of the IRGC-QF’s main financial channels, laundering most of its revenue, including millions of dollars per month sent to the Houthis, through major cities such as Istanbul and Beirut. The new designees include the head of the Al-Qatirji Company Hussam Bin Ahmed Rushdi Al-Qatirji, who was previously designated by the U.S. in 2020 under EO 13573 for brokering the Syrian regime’s oil trade with ISIS. OFAC also designated Muhammad Agha Ahmed Rashdi Qatirji, an Al-Qatirji executive that manages the company’s oil portfolio, and his son Abbas Katerji who also works for the company.
The new designations were imposed pursuant to Executive Order 13224, as amended, which targets terrorist groups and their supporters. As a result of the designations, all property and interests in property of the designated persons within the United States or within the possession or control of a U.S. person are blocked, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions involving a designated person. Entities owned 50 percent or more by one or more blocked persons are also blocked.
U.S. Department of Treasury Press Release