Iranian elite profiting from oil sanctions

International sanctions against Iran have created lucrative financial channels, generating substantial profits for people linked to the country's security institutions, local media has reported. Yashar Soltani, an Iranian investigative journalist, alleged that the Ministry of Petroleum has lost control of marketing and exporting the country's national oil industry, handing it to an exclusive network of four brokers who circumvent international sanctions. Soltani, who has previously been jailed for reporting on financial corruption, said brokers have a strong financial incentive to disrupt political agreements between Tehran and Washington, as lifting sanctions would effectively shut down the networks through which they operate. According to Soltani, Mohammad Javad Bavand, a former economic deputy at the intelligence organisation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, is overseeing the sale of Iranian oil and has, over the past three months, granted four brokers rights to sell 80m barrels of oil. Read more: Iranian press review: Iranian elite profit billions from oil sanctions