This article was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is reprinted with permission.
The United States has imposed a new round of sanctions on more than 20 people and firms that the U.S. Treasury Department says have been involved in a “financial facilitation network” for the benefit of the Iranian military.
The sanctions target people and companies inside Iran as well as in Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said in a news release on November 29.
The sanctions single out the Iranian firm Sepehr Energy and its employees, brokers, and purchasers, saying the business acts as a front company for the Iranian government’s oil sales, which “fund its destabilizing regional activities and support of multiple regional proxy groups.”
These groups include Hamas, which has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States and European Union, and Hizballah.
OFAC said the people and entities designated for sanctions are involved in the networks, which ultimately benefit Iran’s Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics (MODAFL), the Armed Forces General Staff (AFGS), and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ Qods Force (IRGC-QF).
MODAFL and the AFGS sell commodities through networks that include “shadow banking” and front companies both inside Iran and abroad, OFAC said.
“The IRGC-QF and MODAFL continue to engage in illicit finance schemes to generate funds to fan conflict and spread terror throughout the region,” Undersecretary of the Treasury Brian Nelson said.
Sepehr Energy oversees this activity for the AFGS, OFAC said, adding that its deputy chairman, principal board member, and managing director, Majid A’Zami, who is also an Iranian Oil Ministry official, was also blacklisted.
Another company designated for sanctions is the Iran-based Pishro Tejarat Sana Company, which OFAC said works with Sepehr Energy to facilitate the sale and shipment of commodities to overseas buyers, generating revenue for MODAFL and the Iranian military.
Pishro Tejarat works on behalf of Sepehr Energy, in return for a portion of the profits, it said, adding that its chairman of the board of directors, Seyyed Abdoljavad Alavi, was designated for sanctions in the action announced on November 29.
Neslon said the United States “remains committed to exposing elements of the Iranian military and its complicit partners abroad to disrupt this critical source of funds.”
The sanctions block access to U.S. property and bank accounts and prevent the targeted people and companies from doing business with Americans.
