The Trump administration sanctioned nine new companies as part of a crackdown on an oil smuggling network that the U.S. government claims aids the Syrian government and terrorist organizations Hezbollah and Hamas.
“Today, we are acting against a complex scheme Iran and Russia have used to bolster the Assad regime and generate funds for Iranian malign activity,” said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in a statement.
Tuesday’s sanctions are the latest sign of heightening tensions between the U.S., Iran, and Russia.
According to Treasury’s announcement of the sanctions, the Iranian regime and Russian companies work together to provide millions of barrels of oil to the regime of Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, which the U.S. sanctioned due to brutal attacks on civilians, including the use of chemical weapons, during that country’s ongoing civil war. An administration release said the Syrian government paid the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps, another sanctioned entity, hundreds of millions of dollars for those energy shipments.
The Trump administration also alleges that two Russian businesses, Russian state-owned company Promsyrioimport and Russia-based Global Vision Group, assisted illegal transactions with Syrian government entities sanctioned by the U.S. As a result, Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned those companies, and individuals as well as another Russian business, Mir Business Bank, with ties to them.
The U.S. also sanctioned two executives in Iran’s central bank, an Iranian medical and pharmaceutical company, an executive of Promsyrioimport, a Hezbollah official, and a Syrian national who heads Global Vision Group.
In addition to Tuesday’s sanctions, the Treasury Department issued an advisory to maritime shipping companies, warning them off transporting oil to Syria or risking their property and money seized if kept with financial institutions that follow U.S. sanctions law.
“The United States will aggressively seek to impose sanctions against any party involved in shipping oil to Syria, or seeking to evade our sanctions on Iranian oil,” said Sigal Mandelker, the Treasury undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, in a release. “Shipping companies, insurers, vessel owners, managers, and operators should all be aware of the grave consequences of engaging in sanctionable conduct involving Iranian oil shipments.”
