Hossein-Reza Sadeghi, a senior commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and his son Saeed Sadeghi played a central role, according to Iran International, in preserving the oil-sales network of the IRGC Intelligence Organisation and in moving its financial hub from the United Arab Emirates to Russia. The investigative report was published on Tuesday, 6 October 2026, and according to the outlet is based on information from two informed sources and two confidential documents.
According to Iran International, Hossein-Reza Sadeghi is an IRGC brigadier general and senior adviser to the IRGC commander-in-chief, and previously headed an office that oversees the IRGC Intelligence Organisation; he was also deputy coordinator of the IRGC Intelligence Protection Organisation. His son Saeed Sadeghi has in recent years been CEO of Amir Kabir Petrochemical under Ebrahim Raisi's government, deputy for legal affairs at the Khatam al-Anbiya Construction Headquarters and CEO of Naftiran Intertrade Company (NICO), and in September 2025 he was removed just one week after being appointed director of international affairs at the National Iranian Oil Company.
The "trustee" network and the transfer of oil money to Russia
According to Iran International, the Islamic Republic's sanctioned oil is sold through intermediaries known as "trustees", and these intermediaries have in total failed to return about $11 billion of oil revenue to the country. The outlet says that after an $8 billion shortfall came to light last year, the network's financial operations were moved from the UAE to Russia, and Mir Business Bank in Moscow was used for rouble and foreign-currency transactions.
According to the report, Mohammad Javad Bavand, former deputy for economic affairs at the IRGC Intelligence Organisation, became the oil minister's special assistant for sales on 6 June 2026, and according to Iran International, confidential documents show that he assigned 86 million barrels of oil to four "trustees" who were already in debt. The outlet also writes that Abdolnaser Hemmati, the central bank governor, visited Mir Business Bank in Moscow on 17 June together with the Islamic Republic's ambassador to Russia. Iran International also named Ali Rezaei, son of Mohsen Rezaei, as one of these intermediaries.
Link to the oil minister's resignation
According to Iran International, the resignation of Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad came a few hours after news broke of a $1.5 billion transfer through the Russian banking system; the news was first published by Fars news agency, which is affiliated with the IRGC. Masoud Pezeshkian's government had described the reason for this resignation of the Islamic Republic's oil minister as "personal". The report comes as the Islamic Republic's oil exports have effectively stopped under the US naval blockade.
At the time of publication, the IRGC and the Islamic Republic's oil ministry had not responded to Iran International's claims. The report's claims rest on anonymous sources and on documents whose text has not been published.
According to Iran International, the Islamic Republic's oil-sales intermediaries have failed to return about $11 billion of oil revenue.
Comments
No comments yet. Be the first.