The US Treasury Department has imposed financial sanctions on 11 entities and people for supporting Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) for cyber-attacks against US financial institutions.
The persons sanctioned in today’s actions include one entity engaging in activities in support of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) ballistic missile program; two Ukraine-based entities providing support to designated airlines, including one affiliated with the IRGC-Qods Force (IRGC-QF); and two Iran-based networks responsible for malicious cyber-enabled attacks against the U.S. financial system.
“Treasury will continue to take strong actions to counter Iran’s provocations, including support for the IRGC-Qods Force and terrorist extremists, the ongoing campaign of violence in Syria, and cyber-attacks meant to destabilize the U.S. financial system,” said Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin. “These sanctions target an Iranian company providing material support to the IRGC’s ballistic missile program, airlines that support the transport of fighters and weapons into Syria, and hackers who execute cyber-attacks on American financial institutions.”
Meanwhile, Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Thursday that Iran’s nuclear deal with the powers is not renegotiable.
“The #JCPOA is not (re)negotiable. A ‘better’ deal is pure fantasy,” Zarif tweeted on Thursday, adding that it was time for the US to “stop spinning and begin complying, just like Iran.”
According to the Treasury statement, the Treasury freezes any assets the people and companies hold in the U.S. and bars U.S. citizens and residents and U.S. companies from doing business with them. Foreign financial institutions that do business with them risk losing access to the U.S. financial system.
After years of tension with the West, Iran struck a deal with the five world powers of Britain, China, France, Russia and the US plus Germany in July 2015, under which Iran agreed to limit its uranium-enrichment activities in return for the lifting of western and international sanctions.
