Iran’s IRGC, which controls ‘vast segments’ of the country’s economy and plays a role in the country’s politics, received support from four Chinese nationals.
The U.S. Department of State on March 19 posted a $15 million bounty through the Rewards for Justice program, calling for information that would assist with the disruption of dual-use technology supply lines from China to Iran.
The State Department specified that the desired information should be instrumental in derailing the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) “financial mechanisms” that enable terrorist attacks through proscribed proxy militias such as Hamas and Hezbollah.
This development follows the multinational exercise “Maritime Security Belt-2025” on March 9, during which Iran hosted Russia and China in the Gulf of Oman; President Donald Trump’s March 7 announcement that he had sent a letter to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei regarding nuclear talks; and Iran’s decision to instead engage in nuclear discussions with Russia and China on March 14, as reported by Reuters.
The State Department noted that the IRGC, which it alleges controls “vast segments” of the Iranian economy and plays a significant role in the country’s politics, received support from four Chinese nationals.
Liu Baoxia, also known as Emily Liu, Li Yongxin, or Emma Lee, along with Yung Yiu Wa, who also goes by the name Stephen Yung, and Zhong Yanlai, also known as Sydney Chung, supported the IRGC by buying export-controlled dual-use technology from the United States using China-based business fronts before passing them on to Iran, according to the release.
Liu has been involved in this practice since 2007.
“Liu and her associates allegedly utilized an array of front companies in the People’s Republic of China to send dual-use U.S.-origin electronic components to IRGC-linked companies that could be used in the production of UAVs, ballistic missile systems, and other military end uses,” the statement said. “As a result, a vast amount of dual-use U.S.-origin products with military capabilities have been exported from the United States to IRGC-linked companies Shiraz Electronics Industries (SEI), Rayan Roshd Afzar, and their affiliates.”
The State Department noted that by using this method, Iran is able to spend millions of dollars around the globe despite the U.S. sanctions—while the technologies it procures are applied to arms, UAVs, and other weapons systems used by groups in Russia, Sudan, and Yemen.
On Jan. 30, 2024, U.S. prosecutors indicted the four Chinese nationals for “a years-long” operation to undermine U.S. sanctions on Iran between 2007 and 2020.
The Department of Justice’s statement at the time said that the four were charged with conspiracy to undermine the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), violating the IEEPA, trafficking goods from the United States, and using false export information.
“If convicted, the defendants face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for violating the IEEPA; up to 10 years in prison for smuggling goods from the United States; and up to five years in prison for each count of conspiracy and submitting false or misleading export information,” the statement said.
A Rewards for Justice flier depicting the faces of Baoxia and Yanlai said, “These individuals smuggle electronic components to Iran to support production of sophisticated armaments including drones, which Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC) sells to various state and non-state actors. The IRGC uses revenue from these arms sales to fund terrorist activities.”
China finds itself in the same boat as Iran.
In August 2022, U.S. tech giant NVIDIA announced that it was ordered by the U.S. government to stop selling its A100, A100X, and H100 graphics processing units—chips with 20 times more processing power than the preceding generation of the same technology, making them desired components for deep learning and ultimately AI development—to China.
More recently, on Dec. 2, 2024, the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security expanded export controls to 24 types of semiconductors along with three groups of tools used to produce the components.
China responded a day later announcing bans on the exports of critical minerals to the United States and what it called “dual use” items with U.S. military applications.
It also announced an investigation into NVIDIA Corp, alleging that it was undermining the communist state’s anti-monopoly law.
In a communication with The Epoch Times on Dec. 9, 2024, NVIDIA indicated it was happy to cooperate with the investigation.