The United States on Thursday imposed new sanctions on individuals, companies and groups linked to Iran in the Middle East or supporting Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iraq, as part of a campaign to isolate Tehran economically, according to a U.S. Treasury Department statement.
Entities and individuals in 4 countries
The Treasury Department said the measures taken by the Office of Foreign Assets Control target entities and individuals in Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon and Turkey, whom Washington accuses of supporting Iraq’s Hezbollah Brigades and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
The department said, “Hezbollah Brigades and Lebanese Hezbollah help fuel Iran’s destabilizing influence in the Middle East, endanger U.S. forces and the forces of partner countries, and facilitate extensive sanctions-evasion schemes.”
The sanctions are part of an economic campaign to besiege Iran, first announced on August 24, aimed at cutting off revenues that Washington says Tehran uses to finance warfare, missile production and cyberattacks, and to support the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
It targets those who continue to stand with the faltering Iranian regime. Whether they are financing terrorism and laundering money or helping Iran evade sanctions
Bessent vowed to “cut them off from the U.S. financial system and dismantle the networks that keep the regime standing,” as he put it.
Sanctions expected on major bank
Bessent said President Donald Trump’s administration would impose sanctions on a major bank next Monday as it continued economic pressure on Tehran, but did not identify the financial institution or the country where it is based.
He added that the move had originally been scheduled for Friday but was postponed because of the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks.
The Treasury Department announced a settlement with an American who agreed to pay $1.43 million to resolve a potential civil case involving what appeared to be 39 violations of sanctions imposed on Iran. It also urged anyone with information about sanctions evasion or money-laundering operations carried out by Iran to come forward.
Tightening of transaction licensing policy
The Office of Foreign Assets Control issued an advisory stating that it would reject most license applications related to transactions involving Iran, except in special circumstances. It said its licensing division had immediately begun rejecting the “vast majority” of applications on a specified list for Iran-related licenses.
The Treasury Department said the office would continue that licensing policy until Iran changed its conduct, including obstructing passage through the Strait of Hormuz, attacking U.S. personnel and Gulf partners, and seeking to acquire nuclear and conventional weapons.
Earlier sanctions and Iranian preparations
The U.S. Treasury had imposed 36 new Iran-related sanctions on Tuesday, targeting the aviation sector and other companies, in addition to sanctions imposed in recent days on vessels, individuals and networks in the oil, technology and financial sectors, as well as banks Washington says are linked to Iran.
In response, Iranian officials said Tehran had prepared for the U.S. economic siege. Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said several days ago that the country had sufficient food and basic goods, and continued to sell its oil and receive the proceeds.
