The Treasury Department on Dec. 11 imposed new sanctions on an Iranian airline as well as an Iranian shipping network involved in smuggling lethal aid to Yemen on behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps-Quds Force (IRGC-QF).
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) focused on three general sales agents of Mahan Air who were based in the United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong. The airline, which is the biggest carrier in Iran, was targeted for the role it played in weapons of mass destruction proliferation.
“The Iranian regime uses its aviation and shipping industries to supply its regional terrorist and militant groups with weapons, directly contributing to the devastating humanitarian crises in Syria and Yemen,” said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in a statement.
“Aviation and shipping industries should be vigilant and not allow their industries to be exploited by terrorists,” Mnuchin added.
The new sanctions come just days after a weekend prisoner swap between the historic foes, a rare act of cooperation since President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.
Iranian businessman Abdolhossein Khedri and his companies, Khedri Jahan Darya Co. and Maritime Silk Road LLC, were also sanctioned for alleged shipping operations on behalf of the IRGC-QF.
Mahan Air has previously been blacklisted for alleged support provided to the IRGC-QF, Hezbollah, and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, according to a Treasury Department statement. The IRGC-QF has for years used Khedri and firms under his control to support maritime weapons smuggling operations.
The Treasury sanctions freeze any U.S. assets of those targeted and prohibit Americans from doing business with them.
Following the revelations by the State Department that Iran had potentially killed more than 1,000 protesters, U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, condemned the actions by the IRGC. The IRGC is a branch of the Iranian military controlled by the regime’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.