US designates members of Iran-backed Bahrain proxy
The United States continued its campaign targeting Iran and its alleged proxies in the Middle East, sanctioning four ‘operatives’ it said were linked to Bahrain’s Al-Ashtar brigades, designated by the State Department as a terrorist organisation in 2018.
‘Today’s action, taken in coordination with the Kingdom of Bahrain, underscores our collective commitment to disrupting Iran’s destabilizing forces and threats, particularly those which threaten our partners in the region and around the world,’ Treasury Undersecretary Brian Nelson said, 12 March.
Treasury said the designations ‘highlight the critical role that the Iranian regime plays in providing support to Al-Ashtar Brigades.’
It explained that in 2018 the government of Bahrain charged numerous individuals with terrorism-related activities and ‘a number of these individuals fled Bahrain to evade prison sentences and settled in Iran.’
The designations target Hussein Ahmad ‘Abdallah Ahmad Hussein Al-Dammami, accused of engaging in ‘facilitating lethal aid into Bahrain in support of Al-Ashtar Brigades.’ Three others – Ali Abdulnabi Ahmed Ebrahim Alshofa, Hasan Ahmed Radhi Husain Sarhan and Isa Saleh Isa Mohamed Salman – were designated as Iran-based Al-Ashtar members or financiers.
Washington has stepped up its sanctions campaign against Iran and its alleged regional affiliates since the 7 October Hamas attacks in Israel, when Treasury officials vowed to dismantle what they say is the international financial network used by Tehran to fund its militia proxies across the region, including in Yemen, Lebanon, Iraq, the Palestinian territories and now Bahrain.
