$100 million USD to the Qods Force

U.S. Announces New Sanctions Against Iranian Military, Banks, Leaders (updated)

By Andrew Cochran

Today, the State Department designated the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics (MODAFL) for their proliferation activities. The Treasury Department also designated numerous Iranian parties for proliferation concerns: nine IRGC-affiliated entities and five IRGC-affiliated individuals; two state-owned banks, Bank Melli (its biggest) and Bank Mellat; and three individuals affiliated with Iran's Aerospace Industries Organization (AIO). The Treasury Department also designated the IRGC-Qods Force (IRGC-QF) under for providing material support to the Taliban in Afghanistan and other terrorist organizations, and also designated Iran's state-owned Bank Saderat as a terrorist financier. Moreover, elements of the IRGC and MODAFL were listed in the Annexes to U.N. Security Council Resolutions 1737 and 1747, which leads to a freeze on their assets by all member nations.

I recommend reading the detailed fact sheet on all of the designations on the Treasury website.

In my opinion, the broad scope of this sweeping announcement signals a decisive foreign policy decision, in concert with other countries, to significantly ratchet up sanctions against Iran to avoid a more dangerous confrontation (the Associated Press characterizes them as "the harshest since the takeover of the U.S. Embassy in 1979"). CTB Contributing Experts have posted so often on the potential for these sanctions and their impact - more often than any other website - that I can only point readers towards their individual archives:

Matthew Levitt
Victor Comras
Douglas Farah
Jonathan Winer
Michael Jacobson
Michael Kraft

UPDATE: Senior State and Treasury Department officials gave an on-the-record briefing after the announcement of the new sanctions. State Under Secretary Nicholas Burns noted that just since late March, "Iran has transferred arms to Hamas and to Hezbollah in Lebanon and to the Shia militant groups in Iraq and to the Taliban in Afghanistan." So that doubt is resolved in the opinion of the U.S. government, as is the question of Shia cooperation with Sunni terrorist groups against the U.S., which we have addressed here often.

Treasury Under Secretary Stuart Levey noted, "...we have Bank Melli handling transactions for Bank Sepah after its designation. We have Bank Melli handling transactions for the DIO, already designated, for SHIG, already designated both the United States and by the United Nations, and even taking deceptive actions to prevent others from knowing what they're doing, like asking -- taking precautions to take Bank Sepah's name off of transactions when they're handling transactions for it. Bank Melli also, even though it has designated for proliferation, was also handling business for the Qods Force. And from 2002 to 2006, was used to send over $100 million to the Qods Force." See these CT Blog posts on the Bank Sepah designation.

October 25, 2007 09:45 AM Link

Banks still doing biz in Terhan.

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