The United States Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Friday against two companies it said have been shipping Iranian goods, the revenue of which supports the Houthis.
These sanctions levied against Cielo Maritime Ltd, a Hong Kong-based company, and Global Tech Marine Services Inc., a United Arab Emirates-based company, were announced a day after the U.S. military carried out dozens of strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen.
“The United States continues to take action against the illicit Iranian financial networks that fund the Houthis and facilitate their attacks,” Undersecretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said in a statement. “Together with our allies and partners, we will take all available measures to stop the destabilizing activities of the Houthis and their threats to global commerce.”
Cielo Maritime Ltd owns and manages the vessel MEHLE, which has shipped Iranian commodities to China in support of Iran-based, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF)-backed Houthi financial facilitator Sa’id al-Jamal. The ship has used forged documents to disguise where the cargo is from.
Global Tech Marine Services Inc. owns three vessels — SINCERE 02, MOLECULE, and FORTUNE GALAXY — that have been involved in the shipping of Iranian commodities, as well as the attempts to hide the origins of the goods.
The Houthis have carried out 27 attacks on commercial vessels in the waterways off Yemen’s coasts, which have disrupted the global shipping market and endangered the lives of those crews. The U.S. and other countries repeatedly warned the Houthis to stop the attacks, but they launched their largest attack this Tuesday.
Following the attack on Tuesday, President Joe Biden was “presented with response options,” according to National Security Council Coordinator John Kirby.
They hit more than 60 targets at 16 militant locations, targeting the Houthis’s capabilities to conduct these attacks.
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“Initial indications are that we had good effects,” Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder said on Friday, while a senior military official told reporters on Thursday night that the effects of the strikes were “significant.”
The Houthis have said they’re carrying out these attacks in protest of Israel‘s war in Gaza and the U.S.’s support of Israel.
