US offers $15M for tips on Revolutionary Guards’ financial network

The US government is putting a $15M price tag on information that can unravel the financial plumbing of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The State Department’s Rewards for Justice program announced the bounty on May 19, targeting the IRGC and its external operations arm, the Qods Force. The ask is specific: actionable intelligence on how the IRGC moves money. That includes front companies, cryptocurrency accounts, and illicit oil sales conducted through what officials describe as a “shadow fleet” of tankers designed to skirt international sanctions. A coordinated squeeze The bounty didn’t arrive in isolation. The US Treasury simultaneously sanctioned the Amin Exchange and 19 vessels tied to transporting Iranian oil and petrochemicals. Each entity was linked to sanctions evasion efforts that funnel revenue back to the IRGC’s operations. The RFJ program dangles a financial incentive for insiders and informants to come forward. The Treasury sanctions, meanwhile, try to choke off the channels that have already been identified. Together, they form part of what the US has branded its “Economic Fury” campaign, an escalating effort to cut the revenue streams that Tehran uses to fu...