US Treasury slaps sanctions on ‘IRGC-linked’ individuals, entities

In yet another hostile measure against Tehran, the US has slapped sanctions on several individuals and companies for their alleged links with Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC).

According to a statement issued by the US Treasury Department on Monday, two Iranian companies and their directors were placed on the latest sanctions list. It also included two German firms.

The statement accused the individuals and companies of circumventing European export restrictions in order to provide supplies and equipment for the IRGC.

The statement alleged that Iranian national Reza Heidari and Mahmoud Seif had used the companies — ForEnt Technik and Printing Trading Center in Frankfurt, and Rayan Printing and Tejarat Almas Mobin Holding in Tehran— to counterfeit Yemeni bank notes potentially worth hundreds of millions of dollars for the IRGC-Qods Force.

The IRGC is a branch of the Iranian Armed Forces, a standing army of a United Nations member state. It has been effectively providing advisory military support for the elected governments of Iraq and Syria in their battles against various groups of extremist militants.

Earlier last month, the department also sanctioned four entities — three based in Iran and one based in China — over claims of providing “support to the IRGC or Iran’s military.”

The sanctions are part of US President Donald Trump’s supposedly new diplomatic offensive against Tehran, which he unveiled in mid-October by refusing to certify the 2015 nuclear deal.

Trump also used the speech to authorize the US Treasury Department to impose further sanctions on “the entire” IRGC for what he claimed was “its support for terrorism.”

Following Trump’s announcement, the US Treasury added the IRGC to its anti-terrorism sanctions list.

Senior Iranian officials slammed Washington’s belligerent stance against the IRGC, vowing support for the defenders of the country in the face of hostile US polices.