White House Imposes Additional Sanctions on Iran

(RightWing.org) – Tension continues to mount between the United States and Iran in the wake of a recent drone strike that killed three US service members and injured dozens in Jordan. President Joe Biden later confirmed that the attack was carried out by “radical […] militant groups” backed by Tehran and vowed to take action at a time and in a manner” of America’s “choosing.” The Biden administration recently imposed additional sanctions on Iran as part of an effort to hold the terrorist state accountable for its role in the attack.

On January 31, the Treasury Department issued a press release detailing its decision to impose those new sanctions on Iran. The department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) assessed the penalties against three entities operating out of Lebanon and the Republic of Türkiye (Turkey) for their role in selling Iranian commodities in global markets.

The OFAC said the two Lebanon-based entities and one from Turkey and its CEO provided “critical financial support” to Hezbollah, a Shia terrorist group that frequently serves as an Iranian proxy. They also provided funding to the dreaded Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force, an entity within the IRGC that heads the corp’s intelligence services and unconventional warfare operations.

Those entities included:

Hydro Company for Drilling Equipment Rental, a Lebanon-based company, financing the IRGC’s Quds Force by shipping hundreds of millions of dollars of Iranian commodities to Syria;
Yara Offshore SAL, a Hezbollah-affiliated business based in Lebanon conducting international transactions on behalf of an IRGC front;
Mira Ihracat Ithalat Petrol and its Chief Financial Officer, Ibrahim Talal al-Uwayr, a Turkish company providing material and financial support to Hezbollah.

Brian Nelson, the Treasury Department’s Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, praised the decision. He noted that it underscored America’s resolve to prevent the IRGC and its partners from “exploiting the international trading system” to fund their activities.

Nelson also vowed that US officials would continue their efforts to “expose and disrupt [those] illicit schemes” to fund terrorism.