The US Treasury on Thursday ramped up its Iran-related sanctions, targeting a firm with ties to Iran-backed militia groups in Iraq and the president of Iraq's Olympic Committee.
In a statement, the Treasury Department accused these militias of helping "the Iranian regime in evading U.S. sanctions, smuggling weapons, and engaging in widespread corruption in Iraq" and of being responsible for the death of American "personnel."
Those sanctions included a firm it said was created by Kataeb Hezbollah, a powerful Iraqi militia that has been listed as a terrorist organization by the United States.
"The militias actively undermine the Iraqi economy, monopolizing resources through graft and corruption, and hinder the formation of a functioning Iraqi government that would make the region safer," the US Treasury announced.
It also unveiled sanctions against Aqeel Muftin, the president of Iraq's National Olympic Committee, accusing him of managing an Iraqi commercial bank associated with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Quds Force.
It said Aqeel Muftin and his brother Ali have "close relationships with senior intelligence officials of the IRGC and help generate and transfer funds for militias in Iraq that support the IRGC-QF."
These sanctions follow a separate round earlier Thursday against dozens of companies, firms, and ships involved in Iran's export of liquefied petroleum gas.
AFP
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