On May 10, 2018, the US Department of the Treasury sanctioned six Iranian individuals and three companies pursuant to Executive Order (EO) 13224 for being part of “an extensive currency exchange network” in Iran and the United Arab Emirates that “has procured and transferred millions in U.S. dollar-denominated bulk cash to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF).”

Meghdad Amini was designated as an IRGC-QF financial facilitator who “transferred cash out of Iran to the UAE and converted it into USD banknotes with the help of currency exchange enablers, including Rashed Exchange.”

According to the US government, Rashed Exchange was “owned or controlled” by managing director Mohammadreza Khedmati Valadzaghard, who “worked with the IRGC-QF to forge documents to conceal their illicit financial activities from UAE authorities.”

The US also designated Mohammad Hasan Khoda’i and Sa’id Najafpur for working “to conduct financial activities on behalf of the IRGC-QF."