The United States imposed new sanctions on Iran on Tuesday, seeking to choke off finances for Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and a state-owned shipping line to increase pressure on Tehran over its nuclear program.

The U.S. Treasury Department announced it was targeting financial networks that support the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its national carrier, the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL).

“Both the IRGC and IRISL are major institutional participants in Iran’s illegal conduct and in its attempts to evade sanctions,” said Stuart Levey, Treasury’s under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.

The move came as the United States and other big powers prepare for another round of talks with Iran next month on its nuclear program after an initial meeting in Geneva that U.S. officials described as “difficult and candid.”

The U.N. Security Council imposed new sanctions on Iran this year over its nuclear and missile activities, and the United States and the European Union have followed up with their own measures aimed at cutting off financial services and energy sector investment from Iran.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, set up after the 1979 Islamic Revolution to protect the ruling system from internal and external threats, has been a particular target of sanctions that seek to undermine its sprawling military, political, social and economic interests.

State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said the new U.S. move against the Revolutionary Guards was a response to efforts by Iran to circumvent the existing sanctions. Iran says its nuclear program is purely for peaceful purposes.

“This is part of the ongoing game of cat and mouse, if you will, between Iran and the international community,” Crowley said. “We continue to look at what’s happening in Iran and continue to sanction those entities that we think are controlled by the government and are directly related to their proliferation activities.”

The Treasury order named two Iranian banks – Ansar Bank and Mehr Bank – as supporters of the IRGC and said it was banning them from participating in U.S. financial and commercial systems and barring U.S. citizens from any dealing with them. It also designated a cooperative called Bonyad Taavon Sepah that Treasury said was formed by IRGC commanders to handle its investments.

With the IRGC’s expanding influence and control over broader segments of the Iranian economy, including defense production, construction, and oil and gas industries, increasing numbers of Iranian businesses are subsumed under the IRGC’s umbrella and identified with its illicit conduct.

U.S. officials say sanctions are increasingly squeezing Tehran, which this week began moves to bolster the economy by phasing out popular subsidies on a range of essentials such as energy, food and water.

Levey said the pressure on Iran would continue.

“It’s clear that it’s important for us to continue to impose pressure … to highlight the fact that firms are looking for ways to help Iran evade international sanctions,” he said.

source: Reuters

کلیدواژه ها: Revolutionary Guards, sanctions |  Print | نشر مطلب