Ekip
18 July 2017•Update: 18 July 2017
By Michael Hernandez
WASHINGTON
The Donald Trump administration sanctioned 18 Iranian entities and individuals on Tuesday, just hours after it re-certified the country’s compliance with an international nuclear agreement.
The State Department said it remains “deeply concerned about Iran’s malign activities across the Middle East”, which it said threatens regional stability.
“The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action [JCPOA] states the anticipation of JCPOA participants that ‘full implementation of this JCPOA will positively contribute to regional and international peace and security,’” spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement.
“However, Iran’s other malign activities are serving to undercut whatever ‘positive contributions’ to regional and international peace and security were intended to emerge from the JCPOA,” she added.
The 18 Iranian individuals and entities were blacklisted for supporting Iran’s ballistic missile program, or seeking to support Iran’s military procurement or the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Two entities - the IRGC Aerospace Force Self Sufficiency Jihad Organization and the IRGC Research and Self Sufficiency Jehad Organization – were designated by the State Department for contributing to Iran’s ballistic missile program.
In all, 12 entities and individuals were designated for supporting Iran’s military and the IRGC. An additional Iran-based transnational “criminal organization” and three associated persons were also designated, according to the State Department.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the designees had sought to assist Iran's military by providing "advanced military hardware" including drones and fast attack boats.
As a result of Tuesday’s actions, any assets that the designated entities have within the U.S. have been frozen, U.S. persons are prohibited from engaging in business interactions with them, and foreign financial institutions risk being sanctioned if they do business with the blacklisted entities.
