U.S. imposes sanctions against Iranian commercial entities for supporting illicit activites

2011-06-24 00:59:13 GMT+7 (ICT)

WASHINGTON D.C. (BNO NEWS) -- The United States Treasury Department on Thursday imposed sanctions on four Iranian commercial entities for providing support to terrorism and to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction on behalf of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

The U.S. sanctions targeted Tidewater Middle East Co. (Tidewater), Mehr-e Eqtesad-e Iranian Investment Company, Behnam Shahriyari Trading Company and Iran Air. In addition, an Iranian official was designated for acting on behalf of Liner Transport Kish (LTK).

According to Executive Order (E.O.) 13382 and E.O. 13224, the four entities will have their assets frozen and will be isolated them from the U.S. commercial and financial systems.

Tidewater is a port operating company owned by IRGC that has been used for illicit shipments. Iran Air, the national airline carrier, is a commercial airline used by the IRGC and Iran’s Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics (MODAFL) to transport military related equipment.

Iranian official Behnam Shahriyari and his Trading Company were designated fro sanctions for provided support and weapons to Hezbollah on behalf of the IRGC. According to the U.S., IRGC continues playing a central role in Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs, its support for terrorism, and its involvement in serious human rights abuses.

"As Iran's isolation has increased, the IRGC has expanded its reach into critical sectors of Iran's economic infrastructure – to the detriment of the Iranian private sector – to generate revenue and conduct business in support of Iran's illicit activities," said the Treasury Department in a statement.

Tidewater has been involved in various incidents of weapons shipments since 2009. It is owned by Mehr-e Eqtesad-e Iranian Investment Company, Mehr Bank and the IRGC.

Mehr-e Eqtesad-e Iranian Investment Company was sanctioned for being owned or controlled by IRGC-created Mehr Bank, which was designated by the U.S. Treasury in December 2010.

In early June, the U.S. imposed sanctions and assets freeze on IRGC, along with the Basij Resistance Force (Basij) and Iran's national police, for committing severe human rights violations.

IRGC was formed by Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini following the 1979 Islamic Revolution. It was responsible for guarding and preserving the country's borders and stability after the revolution. In recent years, IRGC has involved with internal threats to the regime and suppressing political dissent since the contested elections, including the violent crackdowns on protesters.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-06-24

those not sanctioned for "providing support to terrorism and to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction"

World's largest arms exporters

The unit in this table are expressed in millions of US dollars at 1990s prices. These values do not represent real financial flows but are a crude instrument to estimate volumes of arms transfers, regardless of the contracted prices, which can be as low as zero in the case of military aid. Ordered for year 2010

1 - USA - 8641

2 - Russia - 6039

3 - Germany - 2340

4 - China - 1423

5 - UK - 1054

6 - France - 834

7 - Sweden - 806

8 - Italy - 627

9 - Netherlands - 503

10 - Israel - 472