Abdul Reza Shahla'i
Timur Dekat - Afrika Utara dan Timur Tengah
Rewards for Justice is offering a reward of up to $15 million for information on the financial activities, networks, and associates of Abdul Reza Shahla’i, also known as ‘Yusuf Abu al-Karkh’ and Hajji Yusef. Shahla’i is a high-ranking commander in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps–Qods Force (IRGC-QF), based in Sanaa, Yemen. Shahla’i has a long history of targeting Americans and U.S. allies globally.
Shahla’i planned multiple assassinations of coalition forces in Iraq, provided weapons and explosives to Shia extremist groups, and planned the January 20, 2007 attack in Karbala, Iraq, that killed five U.S. soldiers and wounded three others.
As a financier and senior IRGC official, in 2011, Shahla’i funded and directed the plot to assassinate the Saudi Ambassador to the United States in Washington, D.C. Shahla’i also planned follow-on attacks inside the United States and elsewhere. Had this scheme succeeded, as many as 200 innocent civilians in the United States could have been killed.
On October 11, 2011, the U.S. Department of the Treasury designated Shahla’i as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist pursuant to Executive Order 13224, as amended. Previously, in 2008, the Department of the Treasury designated Shahla’i pursuant to Executive Order 13438 for threatening the peace and stability of Iraq and the Government of Iraq. As a result of these actions, among other consequences, all property, and interests in property, of Shahla’i that are subject to U.S. jurisdiction are blocked, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in any transactions with Shahla’i. In addition, it is a crime to knowingly provide, or attempt or conspire to provide, material support to the IRGC, a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization. He was also designated by Bahrain, the European Union, Saudi Arabia, and the United Kingdom in 2018.
