United States Charges 3 In Scheme To Move Its Currency To Iran

ICBPS– The United States Justice Department has reportedly charged three individuals in connection with what prosecutors declare was a campaign to move U.S. currency from the country to Iran on behalf of Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei.

Muzzamil Zaidi, a U.S. citizen living in Qom, Iran’s most religious city; Asim Naqvi, a U.S. citizen living in Houston; and Pakistani national Ali Chawla, living in Qom, are charged with breaching the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).

On Wednesday, the Justice Department authorities stated the offenders “have significant operational links” to the Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).

“The lifeblood of these terrorist operations is cash– and the defendants played a key role in facilitating that critical component,” stated Michael R. Sherwin, acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.

The Justice Department declares Zaidi, Chawla, and other members of an organization called Islamic Pulse got authorization from Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to gather a religious tax on Khamenei’s behalf and send out half the money to Yemen.

Prosecutors remark after the U.S. enforced sanctions on Khamenei [Mullah the Great] in 2019, the group continued to gather U.S. dollars in the United States and send it to Iran, “structured in a such a method regarding prevent reporting requirements.”

The Justice Department expressed that Zaidi was also charged with acting in the United States as a representative (agent) of the regime of Iran without first notifying the attorney general of the United States.

Further, prosecutors added that after arriving in the United States in June 2020, Zaidi has allegedly exhibited behavior that is consistent with having received training from a foreign state or foreign intelligence service.