Britain Adds Seven New Sanctions On Iran's IRGC

Targeted financial sanctions and travel bans will now apply to 13 Iranian individuals and targeted financial sanctions on one entity involved in the production and supply of drones to Russia.

The statement issued by Foreign Minister, Penny Wong, said the sanctions target those "responsible for egregious human rights abuses and violations in Iran".

Sanctioned targets also include senior law enforcement, political and military figures, including within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the regime's agency involved in the violent crackdown on protests following the death of Mahsa Amini and the continued oppression of the people of Iran.

According to the list seen by Iran International, the commander of the IRGC's Sarallah Base, Mohammad Hossein Zibaee Nejad, also known as Hossein Nejat, is also on the list. Tasked with keeping Tehran secure, it is the most important IRGC ground force HQ in Iran consisting of several of its most important units, which protect key institutions and the offices of the government. The operations deputy of the Police Force, Hossein Sajedinia, also appears on the list. 

Four members of the morality police cited as "responsible for the arrest, detention and ill-treatment of Mahsa Amini" are among those facing the Magnitsky-style human rights sanctions.

EU countries have agreed to take new punitive measures against those responsible for the repression, the Dutch website De Telegraff quoted some sources as saying.

The bloc’s foreign ministers still have to approve the sanctions on Monday at their meeting in Brussels, but it is expected to be adopted.

The designated individuals and organizations will no longer be allowed to enter the EU and can no longer access any assets in the union. The EU has so far imposed such sanctions on 196 Iranians and 33 Iranian organizations and companies including prominent politicians and security officials.

The latest round of sanctions from the EU in late February included Iran's Culture Minister Mohammad Mehdi Esmaili for persecuting artists and filmmakers and also Education Minister Yousef Nouri for suppressing students.

The European Parliament has called on the EU to list the Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist entity, blaming it for the repression of domestic protests and the supply of drones to Russia.

However, the 27-nation bloc has so far stopped short of blacklisting the IRGC as a terror group, despite calls from Berlin and Amsterdam.

The hardliner cleric and Friday prayer Imam in Tehran said that high prices are the result of an "economic war” waged by the US, referring to the heavy sanctions Iran is currently living under.

Although economic sanctions imposed by Washington have a major impact on Iran's economy, many among local media and politicians also blame government mismanagement and the centrally controlled economy plagued by corruption.

“I clearly announce that this high level of inflation is a conspiracy and economic war staged by the US, so the authorities should put in more effort to deal with the unbridled prices,” he said.

Khatami went as far as making a strange claim that “American think tanks have organized 200 conspiracies to overthrow the Islamic Republic.” Accusing American research outfits of conspiring against the regime has been a recent theme in sermons by hardliner clerics.

Iran has been struggling with above-40-percent inflation since 2019 when the United States imposed sanctions.

Last May the government eliminated an annual food import subsidy of at least $10 billion, which immediately led to steep price increases. This was followed by a fall in the value of the national currency.

Food prices continue to climb as the national currency declined by 50 percent in the past six months. According to the Statistical Center of Iran (SCI), in some months, food and beverage inflation hit 87 percent.

The ongoing Woman Life Freedom protests and the collapse of the JCPOA talks, have also worsened the country’s economy to levels not seen in recent history.

News about more sanctions usually leads the rise of the US dollar on the local market. Since September the dollar and other currencies have doubled their exchange rate against Iran’s currency, leading to a serious economic crisis and inflationary pressure.

At the same time, Hamid Hosseini, the chairman of the Iran-Iraq chamber of commerce claimed that the United States has allowed Iraq to release $500 million of its debts to Iran.

Iraq imports electricity and natural gas from Iran and owes Tehran more than $10 billion, because US banking sanctions do not allow dollar transfers to Iran. However, Hosseini said that Iraq's debt has reached $18 billion.

The US, however, has allowed the money blocked in Iraq to be used for importing goods not banned under American sanctions. These are generally food, medicine and medical supplies. Hosseini’s claim about the release of $500 million, if true, could have been an action within this framework.

After dropping to a low of 600,000 to the US dollar, the rial has regained some of its value and is now trading at around 500,000 against the dollar, but that is still half of its value compared to one year ago. A three-day religious holiday has kept the currency market in check in this week.

US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) Thursday announced sanctions on 39 entities, including many based in the United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong, for helping Iran evading sanctions as well as designating a network of five companies and one individual for supporting Iran’s unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) procurement efforts.

The Biden administration has accelerated its sanctions campaign against Iranian individuals and entities since September for three reasons. First, nuclear talks lasting 18 months reached a deadlock last September, exactly when popular protests erupted in Iran and were met with deadly force by the government. In addition to these factors, Russia began using killer drones provided by Iran, which alarmed the United States and its European allies.

Describing Thursday’s sanctioned entities as a "shadow banking" network that moves billions of dollars, Washington said the companies facilitate the Islamic Republic’s access to the global financial system. It added that those targeted had granted companies previously slapped with Iran-related sanctions, such as Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industry Commercial Co (PGPICC) -- which was sanctioned for aiding Revolutionary Guard’s Khatam al Anbiya construction base in 2019 -- and Triliance Petrochemical Co Ltd, access to the international financial system and helped them hide their trade with foreign customers. 

In 2022 alone, PGPICC marketed millions of dollars of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) produced by Mehr Petrochemical Company (Mehr) to third-party buyers for delivery to Turkey and Asia. UAE-based Bavi General Trading CO L.L.C (Bavi General) and Iran-based Kambiz Nabizadeh and Partners Exchange (Nabizadeh Exchange) play a key intermediary role in these transactions. Late last year, a $170 million apparent embezzlement case left Mehr Petrochemicals, which produces the highest-grade polyethylene in the Middle East, in serious trouble.

"Iran cultivates complex sanctions evasion networks where foreign buyers, exchange houses, and dozens of front companies cooperatively help sanctioned Iranian companies to continue to trade," said Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo, adding that the new measures showed the US "ability to disrupt Iran's foreign financial networks, which it uses to launder funds."

Among those designated on Thursday were two Turkey-based entities, as well as Iran-based Mehr Petrochemical Company. Brian O'Toole, a former Treasury Department official, said Thursday's action would put a dent in Iran's ability to keep moving oil and get paid for it. "This is a pretty big deal, because this kind of thing should have an impact on what Iran is able to sell," he said.

The Treasury Department's top sanctions official, Brian Nelson, traveled to the UAE earlier this year, where he planned to warn officials about "poor sanctions compliance", a department spokesperson said at the time.

Also on Thursday, OFAC designated entities for supporting Iran’s UAV procurement efforts. This People’s Republic of China-based network is responsible for the sale and shipment of thousands of aerospace components, including components that can be used for UAV applications, to the Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industrial Company (HESA), it said. HESA – designated on September 17, 2008, by the US for being owned or controlled by Iran’s Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics (MODAFL) and for having provided support to the IRGC -- has been involved in the production of the Shahed-136 UAV model that the Islamic Republic has used to attack oil tankers and has exported to Russia. 

“Iran is directly implicated in the Ukrainian civilian casualties that result from Russia’s use of Iranian UAVs in Ukraine,” said Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson. “The United States will continue to target global Iranian procurement networks that supply Russia with deadly UAVs for use in its illegal war in Ukraine.”