2024-02-27T15:59:36+00:00
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/ The United States announced, on Tuesday, imposing sanctions on the deputy commander of the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, and on a member of the Yemeni Houthi group, while Britain added 5 new classifications under the sanctions regime on Iran, and one on Yemen.
The new steps were classified as part of what was described as “the two countries’ efforts to confront attacks that threaten the safety of maritime navigation and international trade in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.”
In addition, Washington imposed other sanctions on the owner and operator of a ship used to ship Iranian goods to support the Houthi rebels in Yemen and the Quds Force.
The US Treasury Department considered in a statement published on its website that “the revenues generated through these illicit networks enable the armed efforts of the Houthis, including numerous terrorist attacks in the region using advanced drones and missiles.”
“Today’s action underscores our determination to target the IRGC-QF and Houthi efforts to evade U.S. sanctions and fund further attacks in the region,” said Brian Nelson, Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, in a statement.
“As the Houthis continue to threaten the security of peaceful international commerce, the United States and the United Kingdom will continue to disrupt the financing flows that enable these destabilizing activities,” he added.
Since November, the Houthis have announced that they have begun targeting ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden that they consider to be linked to Israel, in “solidarity” with the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, which Israel is bombing and besieging in the midst of its war on Hamas.
Their attacks have forced many shipping companies to suspend their ships’ transit through this region, through which 12 percent of global trade passes.
Weeks ago, the US State Department reclassified the Houthi Ansar Allah group in Yemen as a terrorist organization due to its continued attacks on international maritime trade in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
The United States formed a multinational coalition in December to protect maritime traffic.
The Treasury Department said the new sanctions include a member of the Houthi group named Ibrahim al-Nashiri, in addition to Mohammad Reza Fallahzadeh, who serves as deputy commander of the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, noting that he participated in the war in Syria and caused significant civilian casualties.
She added that sanctions were imposed on the company “Artora”, owned by a company based in Hong Kong, for transporting Iranian goods owned by a member of the Houthi group named Saeed Al-Jamal, who resides in Iran and acts as a financial facilitator for the Yemeni terrorist organization, and has been on the US sanctions list since June 2021.
A British government memo showed on Tuesday that London added five new classifications under the Iran sanctions regime, and one under the Yemen sanctions regime.