US and Gulf States take aim at Iran’s Basij and Hezbollah

Designations are ‘focused on entities supporting Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Iran’s regional proxy, Hizballah’.

The US Treasury announced, 30 October, that the ‘seven member nations of the Terrorist Financing Targeting Center (TFTC)’ had ‘jointly designated 25 targets affiliated with the Iranian regime’s terror-support networks in the region.’

The TFTC includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and the United States.

The designations are ‘focused on entities supporting Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Iran’s regional proxy, Hizballah,’ says the Treasury, noting that ‘several of the businesses targeted in this action are providing financial support to the Basij Resistance Force (Basij), a paramilitary force subordinate to the IRGC that have long been used as shock troops by the regime to oppress domestic opposition with brutal displays of violence, while also recruiting, training and deploying fighters to fight in IRGC-fueled conflicts across the region.’

Secretary of the Treasury Steven T. Mnuchin said that the TFTC was created ‘under the leadership of President Trump on May 21, 2017 during his historic trip to Saudi Arabia,’ and represented a ‘bold effort’ to ‘expand and strengthen the cooperation amongst seven countries – Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and the United States – to counter the financing of terrorism.’

Treasury said that 21 of the entities are part of a ‘vast network of businesses providing financial support to the Basij Resistance Force,’ while four are ‘Hizballah-affiliated individuals who lead and coordinate the group’s operational, intelligence, and financial activities in Iraq.’

See:
https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/OFAC-Enforcement/Pages/20191024.aspx