Iran: The IRGC’s Fuel Smuggling Mafia – OpEd

Amid the power struggle and the impeachment battle of Abdolnaser Hemmati, the Iranian regime’s minister of economy, the issue of large-scale fuel smuggling has resurfaced. On February 26, Iranian regime president Masoud Pezeshkian said, “Who is responsible for taking this massive amount of reserves out of the country? It is not possible for someone to smuggle diesel by hand or in small barrels across the border. Such large-scale smuggling requires an extensive network, so it must be clarified who is involved in this cycle” (Jamaran website, February 26, 2025).

Even if it is unclear to others who is involved in this cycle, Pezeshkian knows well. He understands that the fuel smuggling corruption is linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the military arm of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, for whose longevity Pezeshkian prays daily.

On March 1, the state-affiliated Ham-Mihan newspaper highlighted Pezeshkian’s admission: “Smugglers buy diesel at 3,000 rials per liter and sell it for 700,000 rials per liter.” It then questioned: “Why don’t you name the smugglers? Is it against the policy of unity? Who are these smugglers? … When you publish an official report listing the names of these ‘respectable’ smugglers, the people will believe that you can actually stop it.”

Pezeshkian knows well that 30 million liters of fuel cannot be smuggled daily using small containers. Fuel smuggling is different from garment smuggling—it is controlled by entities with the tools to regulate, monitor, and even legitimize such operations. The IRGC, leveraging its influence over ports, land borders, and international networks, has turned fuel smuggling into a highly profitable industry. Pezeshkian is not distant from this cycle either. He is not here to expose the IRGC’s secrets; rather, he aims to use the disappearance of oil barrels as a political weapon to pressure his economy minister. Pezeshkian, in turn, seeks to use this issue to force his rivals into retreat in the power struggle. That is why, once the uproar over the “impeachment” and “resignation” subsided, Pezeshkian also stopped talking about corruption and fuel smuggling.

However, the trail of smuggled 20, 30, or even 50 million barrels of oil is such a massive scandal that its signs occasionally emerge in the regime’s internal power and wealth struggles, as voiced by its own figures and media.

The Tabnak website, affiliated with former IRGC commander Mohsen Rezaei, reported on December 28, quoting Alireza Salimi, a member of the parliament’s presidium: “The oil minister told our commission that we are buying nearly 9 million liters of fuel from smugglers. So you know who the smugglers are because you’re buying from them! The trail is in your hands. Losing 20 million liters is a big deal—it’s no joke.”

Some regime-affiliated experts claim that the actual amount of fuel smuggling is far greater than 20 or 30 million liters per day. The state-run Arman-e Emrooz newspaper, on December 23, quoted an economic expert: “We consume 120 million liters of gasoline per day. Of this, only 70 million liters are actual domestic consumption—the rest is smuggled out of the country… Hossein Raghfar stated that this cannot be carried out solely by border porters or ordinary individuals; rather, it is an organized operation—in other words, a government-run enterprise.”

By “government-run,” he refers to the regime’s own machinery of looting, crime, and oppression. The same apparatus that, under the banner of the IRGC, burned dozens of impoverished Baluchi fuel carriers alive in their vehicles in March 2021.

At that time, the IRGC attempted to block fuel carriers by digging deep ditches and setting up roadblocks. At the Askan border point, they opened fire with tank-mounted machine guns on the fuel carriers and the people who came to support them.