WASHINGTON – The U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions on Thursday against sixindividuals and three companies it said had funneled millions of dollars tothe Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s elite Qods Force, just days afterPresident Donald Trump withdrew from the landmark 2015 Iran nuclear deal.
The Treasury Department said it was acting with the United Arab Emirates todisrupt the network and accused Iran’s central bank of actively helping thegroup to access U.S. dollars held in foreign bank.
“The Iranian regime and its Central Bank have abused access to entities inthe UAE to acquire U.S. dollars to fund the IRGC-QF’s malign activities,including to fund and arm its regional proxy groups, by concealing thepurpose for which the U.S. dollars were acquired,” Mnuchin said in astatement.
The six individuals and three entities were sanctioned under U.S.regulations targeting specially designated global terrorist suspects andIranian financial activity, the Treasury said.
The crackdown comes two days after Trump withdrew from the 2015 arms accordand as U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pushes allies in Europe, Asiaand the Middle East to pressure Iran to return to negotiations over itsnuclear and missile programs.
Trump’s decision has given grace periods of 90 days to six months forcompanies to wind down their trade with Iran.
In February 2015, Reuters reported that at least $1 billion in cash hadbeen smuggled into Iran despite U.S. and other sanctions. Before it reachedIran, the cash was passed through money changers and front companies inDubai, in the United Arab Emirates, and Iraq, sources told Reuters.
The report said Iran’s central bank had worked with other entities,including sanctioned Iranian companies, to find ways to obtain US dollars,including using front companies and their networks. They said the centralbank had given the orders to the front companies abroad to buy dollars.
Before the 2015 nuclear deal was reached, front companies had mushroomed inDubai to facilitate payments to Iran. The use of multiple front companies,which bought dollars from currency traders in Dubai and Iraq, was preferredas it concealed the overall size of the dollar purchasing operation.