The US administration imposes new economic and judicial sanctions on Iran and confiscates funds
The US administration imposed new economic and judicial sanctions on Iran on Friday, at a time when its armed forces carried out strikes in Iraq and Syria targeting the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and groups loyal to Tehran.
Attorney General Merrick Garland and the federal prosecutor for the state of Manhattan in New York, Damien Williams, announced prosecutions on charges of “terrorism, sanctions evasion, fraud, and money laundering against seven people in an oil money laundering network run by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and the Quds Force,” its elite unit.
The Revolutionary Guard constitutes the ideological army of the Iranian regime.
In a statement, the US judiciary accused Iranian official officials and Turkish cadres in an energy group in Ankara of “laundering and selling Iranian oil to buyers linked to China, Russia, and Syria, to finance the Iranian Quds Force”.
The Federal Prosecutor’s Office in Manhattan also announced “the confiscation of $108 million that Revolutionary Guard companies were trying to launder”.
“Iran uses black market oil sales channels to fund its criminal activities, such as its support for the Revolutionary Guard, Hamas, Hezbollah, and other affiliated groups,” Garland said in the statement.
At the same time, President Joe Biden ordered retaliatory strikes against pro-Iranian groups in Syria and Iraq, after three American soldiers were killed in Jordan on Sunday.
On Friday morning, the US Treasury Department announced new sanctions against Iranian companies and individuals involved in manufacturing Shahed drones and in attempts to launch cyber-attacks against infrastructure in the United States.
Natural and legal persons are accused of having ties to or belonging to the Revolutionary Guard.
Back in 2021, cyber-attacks targeted a children’s hospital in Boston, Israel, and several European countries.
Deputy Treasury Secretary Brian Nelson said in a statement, “The deliberate targeting of critical infrastructure by Iranian cyber actors is an unacceptable and dangerous act that the United States won’t tolerate”.
As for the production of Shahid suicide drone, the sanctions affect Chinese companies in Hong Kong that are accused of providing components to companies and individuals targeted by US sanctions.
The sanctions also target the Chinese company China Oil and Petroleum, which is suspected of being affiliated with the Revolutionary Guard, and is accused of selling hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of Iranian raw materials on behalf of the Guard.
Under these sanctions, all assets owned, directly and indirectly, in the United States by the individuals and companies concerned are frozen, in addition to preventing any company or person in the United States from dealing financially with these parties.
