Israeli military claims to have killed senior commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps' oil sector

People’s Finance and News, April 5—Local time on the afternoon of the 5th, the Israel Defense Forces issued a statement saying that in its airstrike operation on April 3 targeting Tehran, the capital of Iran, it killed a senior commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) Oil Department, Mohammad Reza Ashrafi Kahi. The statement said that the IRGC Oil Department bypasses international sanctions by routing profits generated from the sale of oil, providing support for the IRGC’s continued operations and the development of its military capabilities. The statement noted that Ashrafi oversees the oil department’s commercial operations, with estimated annual trade volumes in the billions of dollars. The individual has driven the development of military capabilities of the IRGC and its proxies in the Middle East, with key targets including groups such as the Houthi forces in Yemen, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Hamas. The IDF also said that these activities provide funding for the IRGC’s ballistic missile and drone formations, which are used to carry out attacks against Israeli territory and the Gulf states, and to target oil infrastructure in the region. (CCTV News)