Special to WorldTribune.com

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Treasury Department has imposed sanctions on Gen. Gholamreza
Baghbani, an officer in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Baghbani, assigned to IRGC’s Quds Force, was said to have overseen drug trafficking
from Afghanistan through Iran in cooperation with Taliban.

“Today’s action exposes IRGC-QF involvement in trafficking narcotics, made doubly reprehensible here because it is done as part of a broader scheme to support terrorism,” Treasury Undersecretary David Cohen said on March 7.

Baghbani, the first Iranian official designated under the U.S. Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act, has been chief of the Quds Force office in the southeastern Iranian city of Zahedan. Treasury said Baghbani facilitated heroin and opium smuggling from Afghanistan through Iran “in return for assistance.” Treasury did not elaborate.

Officials said IRGC has employed drug traffickers to fund Iranian
proxies, including Hamas and Hizbullah. They said the heroin trade, despite more than a decade of Western military and civilian aid, remains the chief source of revenue in Afghanistan.

“U.S. persons are prohibited from conducting financial or commercial
transactions with Gen. Baghbani, and any assets he may have under U.S.
jurisdiction are frozen,” Treasury said.

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