The Treasury announced new sanctions Thursday on five Iranian entities affiliated with the country's ballistic missile program.



All five Iranian entities are subordinates of the Iranian company Shahid Bakeri Industrial Group.

The new restrictions will prevent the entities from dealing financially with U.S. citizens and financial institutions. 



The announcement comes as tens of thousands of Iranians have taken to the streets, including in the nation's capital of Tehran, to protest the government. </s> The US Treasury announced Tuesday that twenty entities, including four banks, will be targeted by new Iran's sanctions.

"This Iran-based network is known as Bonyad Taavon Basij, which is translated as Basij Cooperative Foundation, and is comprised of at least 20 corporations and financial institutions," the release said.

READ MORE: Iran Found New Partners for Oil Exports Despite US Sanctions — Vice-President

The designations target four Iranian banks — Bank Mellat, Sina Bank, Parsian Bank, Mehr Eqtesad Bank — and five investment firms, including Negin Sahel Royal Company and Mehr Eqtesad Financial Group.

The US sanction policy against Iran has commenced when the relations between Washington and Tehran deteriorated following the US withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action nuclear deal in May.

After the move, the US pledged to reinstate anti-Iranian sanctions over several waves, with financial restrictions introduced this past summer and energy sanctions planned for November 4. The US withdrawal has prompted other signatories, including Russia, China and the European powers to try to salvage the landmark nuclear deal. </s> The U.S. Treasury Department's sanctions come amid anti-government protests in Iran, which have received vocal support from the White House. | Karen Bleier/AFP/Getty Images Treasury sanctions Iranian entities linked to ballistic missile production

The Treasury Department on Thursday sanctioned five Iranian entities linked to the country’s ballistic missile program.

The action comes amid anti-government protests in Iran, which have received vocal support from the White House.

Story Continued Below

President Donald Trump must also decide by Jan. 11 whether to continue waiving economic sanctions against the country, which were lifted as part of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. Those waivers must be renewed every 120 days.

The entities sanctioned today are affiliated with Iran’s Shahid Bakeri Industrial Group, which develops and produces missiles, Treasury said. The U.S. will freeze any financial assets of the designated entities that are within U.S. jurisdiction, and Americans are prohibited from dealing with them commercially.

POLITICO Playbook newsletter Sign up today to receive the #1-rated newsletter in politics Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time.

The Shahid Bakeri Industrial Group itself is already sanctioned by the U.S. The new entities sanctioned are Shahid Kharrazi Industries; Shahid Sanikhani Industries; Shahid Moghaddam Industries; Shahid Eslami Research Center, and Shahid Shustari Industries. Each are responsible for different stages of development for ballistic missiles, Treasury said.

“These sanctions target key entities involved in Iran’s ballistic missile program, which the Iranian regime prioritizes over the economic well-being of the Iranian people,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement. </s> WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States imposed sanctions on Thursday against six individuals and three companies it said were funneling millions of dollars to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard’s elite Quds Force, just days after President Donald Trump withdrew from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

FILE PHOTO: Steven Mnuchin, Secretary, U.S. Department of the Treasury speaks at the Milken Institute 21st Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., April 30, 2018. REUTERS/Mike Blake

The Treasury Department, acting with the United Arab Emirates where front companies were located, said it had disrupted the large network’s operations, and accused Iran’s central bank of helping the group access U.S. dollars held in foreign banks to sidestep Western sanctions.

“The Iranian regime and its central bank have abused access to entities in the UAE to acquire U.S. dollars to fund the IRGC-QF’s malign activities, including to fund and arm its regional proxy groups, by concealing the purpose for which the U.S. dollars were acquired,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.

The IRGC is by far Iran’s most powerful security entity and has control over large stakes in Iran’s economy and huge influence in its political system. The Quds Force is an elite unit in charge of the IRGC’s overseas operations.

The six individuals and three entities, including front companies for the IRGC-QF and currency traders, were sanctioned under U.S. regulations targeting specially designated global terrorist suspects and Iranian financial activity, the Treasury said.

The UAE said later it had placed the same companies and people on its list of terrorist and terrorist organizations doing business with the IRGC-QF.

The crackdown comes as U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pushes allies in Europe, Asia and the Middle East to pressure Iran to return to negotiations over its nuclear and missile programs.

Trump’s decision has given grace periods of 90 days to six months for companies to wind down their trade with Iran.

The Treasury Department said one of the companies sanctioned was also involved in retrieving oil revenue from foreign bank accounts held by the Iranian central bank for IRGC-QF activities.

In February 2015, Reuters reported that at least $1 billion in cash had been smuggled into Iran despite sanctions. Before it reached Iran, the cash was passed through money changers and front companies in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates and Iraq, sources told Reuters.

Before the 2015 nuclear deal was reached, front companies had mushroomed in Dubai to facilitate payments to Iran. The use of multiple front companies, which bought dollars from currency traders in Dubai and Iraq, was preferred as it concealed the overall size of the dollar-purchasing operation. </s> The US Treasury has imposed sanctions on Bank Mellat, Mehr Eqtesad Bank, Mehr Eghtesad Iranian Investment Co. and five other investment firms.

Iran Tractor Manufacturing Company, which is the largest tractor manufacturer in the Middle East, and Esfahan’s Mobarakeh Steel Company, which is the largest steelmaker in the ME region and North Africa, are among other Iranian firms targeted by the US Treasury's new round of sanctions.

According to the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the new sanctions have targeted financial and industrial institutes belonging to the Bonyad Taavon Basij (Basij Cooperative Foundation). </s> The U.S. Treasury Department announced sanctions Thursday against five "Iran-based entities subordinate to a key element of Iran's ballistic missile program." The five entities targeted are subsidiaries of Shahid Bakeri Industrial Group (SBIG), which is part of Iran's Defense Ministry. While Shahid is already under U.S. sanctions, the new designations ensure its subsidiaries are also punished.

"These sanctions target key entities involved in Iran's ballistic missile program, which the Iranian regime prioritizes over the economic well-being of the Iranian people," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement. "As the Iranian people suffer, their government and the IRGC fund foreign militants, terrorist groups, and human rights abuses."

"The United States will continue to decisively counter the Iranian regime's malign activity, including additional sanctions targeting human rights abuses," Mnuchin added.

The sanctions come after a week of protests in Iran, although the sanctions are not related to the unrest, The Associated Press reports. Last month U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley showed reporters missile parts with logos suggesting they were manufactured by Shahid. Haley said the fragments were recovered from missiles Iran-backed Houthi rebels launched at Saudi Arabia in Yemen. </s> The Treasury Department on Thursday sanctioned five Iranian entities linked to the country’s ballistic missile program.

The action comes amid anti-government protests in Iran, which have received vocal support from the White House.

President Donald Trump must also decide by Jan. 11 whether to continue waiving economic sanctions against the country, which were lifted as part of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. Those waivers must be renewed every 120 days.

The entities sanctioned today are affiliated with Iran’s Shahid Bakeri Industrial Group, which develops and produces missiles, Treasury said. The U.S. will freeze any financial assets of the designated entities that are within U.S. jurisdiction, and Americans are prohibited from dealing with them commercially.

The Shahid Bakeri Industrial Group itself is already sanctioned by the U.S. The new entities sanctioned are Shahid Kharrazi Industries; Shahid Sanikhani Industries; Shahid Moghaddam Industries; Shahid Eslami Research Center, and Shahid Shustari Industries. Each are responsible for different stages of development for ballistic missiles, Treasury said.

“These sanctions target key entities involved in Iran’s ballistic missile program, which the Iranian regime prioritizes over the economic well-being of the Iranian people,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement. </s> The United States is imposing new sanctions against 18 individuals and entities over their support for Iran's ballistic missile program and other military-related activities.

The sanctions come one day after Washington certified that Iran is complying with the 2015 nuclear deal and will continue to receive nuclear-related sanctions relief.

The U.S. Department of Treasury said in a statement on July 18 it was targeting 16 entities and individuals for ”engaging in support of illicit Iranian actors or transnational criminal activity.”

Those sanctioned have supported Iran's military or the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) by developing military equipment, producing and maintaining fast-attack boats, and procuring electronic components, the treasury said.

"This Administration will continue to aggressively target Iran's malign activity, including their ongoing state support of terrorism, ballistic missile program, and human rights abuses," Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin was quoted as saying in the statement.

The State Department also said it is designating two Iranian organizations involved in Iran’s ballistic missile program.

State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said Iran was testing and developing ballistic missiles "in direct defiance" of a UN Security Council resolution.

The new sanctions were "in response to these continued Iranian threats," she said in a July 18 statement.

The State Department called on Iran to release U.S. citizens including Baquer Namazi, Siamak Namazi, and Xiyue Wang whose arrest and prison sentence on espionage charges was announced by a judiciary spokesman over the weekend.

With reporting by Reuters and dpa </s> WASHINGTON
• The United States Treasury Department has slapped sanctions on an Iranian paramilitary group along with a network of businesses that was providing it with financing, as part of Washington's campaign of maximum economic pressure against Teheran.

The announcement came two weeks before the Trump administration reimposes some of the US' harshest sanctions against Iran, including its oil sector. The Treasury said a network of more than 20 businesses known as the Bonyad Taavon Basij was financing the Basij Resistance Force, a component of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

It also accused the hardline militia of sending child soldiers to Syria in support of President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

"The international community must understand that business entanglements with the Bonyad Taavon Basij network and IRGC front companies have real world humanitarian consequences," said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Tuesday. "This helps fuel the Iranian regime's violent ambitions across the Middle East."

The Basij, a paramilitary force formed soon after the 1979 revolution, is one of the Iranian regime's primary enforcers of internal security with branches in every province and city of Iran, according to the US Treasury.

Iran yesterday called the new US sanctions an act of "blind vindictiveness".

"America's new sanctions are a clear insult to international and legal mechanisms and a result of the US government's blind vindictiveness against the Iranian nation," said foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi.

He called Washington's "lack of adherence to international legal mechanisms" a threat not only "to the Iranian people's interests but also to the world's stability and security".

Among the other companies singled out was Iran Tractor Manufacturing Company, the largest tractor manufacturer in the Middle East and North Africa that predates the Iranian revolution.

It generates millions of dollars in profit for the investment firms that represent the Basij.

Also targeted was Iran's Zinc Mines Development Company, described as the country's "pre-eminent, multibillion-dollar zinc and lead mining and processing holding company".

Washington pulled out of a landmark 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers in May and is reimposing punishing sanctions on the Middle Eastern country, hoping to pressure Teheran into what US President Donald Trump calls a "better deal".

Full US sanctions are set to hit Iran next month and the country's economy is already taking a beating.
The United States Treasury Department announces new sanctions on 22 Iranian corporations and banks.