US sanctions target financing of Iran’s military, Treasury says

US imposes new sanctions over financing of Iran’s military. (File Photo)

The United States has announced new sanctions aimed at individuals and companies accused of helping fund Iran’s military, according to the Treasury Department.

The measures, announced on Tuesday, target groups in Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates that Washington says moved money linked to the sale of Iranian oil. The funds were used to support Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps–Quds Force (IRGC-QF) and the Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces Logistics (MODAFL), the Treasury said.

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“These Iranian ‘shadow banking’ networks, run by illicit financial facilitators, abuse the international financial system and evade sanctions by moving money through front companies abroad and cryptocurrency,” the Treasury said in a statement, as reported by Reuters.

Under the sanctions, American citizens and companies are banned from doing business with the listed individuals and firms.