OFAC adds to blacklist for work with Iran military and aiding Iraqi militias
The United States has blacklisted 20 people and companies in Iran and Iraq for alleged links with the Iranian paramilitary Qods force and for providing ‘lethal aid’ to anti-American militia groups in Iraq, the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (‘OFAC’) has announced.
OFAC said it had ‘designated 20 Iran- and Iraq-based front companies, senior officials, and business associates that provide support to or act for or on behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF) in addition to transferring lethal aid to Iranian-backed terrorist militias in Iraq such as Kata’ib Hizballah (KH) and Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq (AAH).’
The 26 March statement added that the entities and individuals had perpetrated or supported smuggling through the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr, money laundering through Iraqi front companies, selling Iranian oil to the Syrian regime, and smuggling weapons to Iraq and Yemen.
It said other ‘malign activities’ included: ‘Promoting propaganda efforts in Iraq on behalf of the IRGC-QF and its terrorist militias; intimidating Iraqi politicians; and using funds and public donations made to an ostensibly religious institution to supplement IRGC-QF budgets.’
Iran is one of the countries worst hit by the global coronavirus, and this has led to an international call, including by China, Russia and the UN Secretary General, for the lifting or easing of sanctions on the country.
On 20 March, about two dozen organisations in the United States, including the International Crisis Group, Oxfam America, and the National Iranian American Council, called on US leaders to lift the sanctions for 120 days to offer Iranians relief at this critical time.
The Trump administration has said it has no intention of easing its ‘maximum pressure’ policy against Iran.
