A fuel oil smuggling network operating in Iraq has been generating at least $1 billion a year for Iran and its proxies since 2022 by diverting oil allocated to asphalt plants at subsidized prices. Between 3.4 and 5 million barrels of heavy fuel oil is illicitly exported from the plants every month, mostly to Asia. The illicit exports benefit the Iraqi paramilitary force and political party Asaib Ahl Al-Haq (AAH), which is supported by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Kataib Hezbollah, another IRGC-backed Iraqi group, also controls some plants involved in the diversion scheme. Some of the exported fuel oil is blended with Iranian oil to help Iran evade sanctions.