As the Iranian regime is under international sanctions, how on earth are they able to fund proxy terrorist groups in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and more?
Well, the Iranian opposition asserts that the regime has actually established an international arms smuggling and drug trafficking system, using the financial resources plundered from the Iranian people. They said that groups operating under the influence of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and managed by the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) and Quds Force are funding terrorism and regional interventions through sending drugs to the West.
For the clearest picture, we need to look at international media coverage, but due to the secrecy of the Iranian regime, it should be noted that the evidence uncovered is just the tip of the iceberg.
Drug trafficking
WikiLeaks revealed a US Embassy report that stated that over 80% of global opium and over 28% of global heroin were being transported through Iran in 2007. While the Times reported in 2011 that the Revolutionary Guards has a huge role in Iran’s “multibillion-pound” drug trafficking and that they’re using this to create a relationship with the “global crime network” to undermine the West.
Meanwhile, the US Treasury identified senior Quds Force commander Brigadier General Gholamreza Baghbani as a drug trafficker in 2010, citing evidence that he let Afghan traffickers smuggle drugs into Europe through Iran if they would deliver weapons to the Taliban, and sent out an arrest warrant.
This year alone, these drug shipments happened:
- May 20 – 244 kilograms of heroin smuggled into Azerbaijan in a watermelon truck
- May 10 – 1,452kg of heroin found in Romania in a shipload of construction materials headed to western Europe.
- April 26 – 17 tons of drugs (worth $44.78 million) seized by Nigerian officials that were headed for Libya.
- April 13 – 230kg of heroin discovered in Azerbaijan en route to Ukraine in a potato truck
- February – 401kg of heroin found in containers of bitumen roofing rolls on a ship in Bulgaria
As a result of this and a further thwarted attempt to smuggle drugs through Saudi Arabia, the country banned fruit and vegetable shipments that were coming from Lebanon, where the Iranian regime proxy Hezbollah is based.
Read the complete article at: Iran News Update
Also Read: IRGC’s Hezbollah, “Party of Allah” or “Party of Drugs”?