WASHINGTON, March 26 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Department of the Treasury said on Tuesday that it had imposed sanctions against 25 Iran-related individuals and entities for their commercial activities with Iran's military.
The United States took actions against 25 individuals and entities, including a network of Iran, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Turkey-based front companies, which have transferred over 1 billion U.S. dollars and euros to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Iran's Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics (MODAFL), according to a statement issued by the Treasury.
The statement said the targeted actors also procured millions of dollars' worth of vehicles for MODAFL.
"Central to this network and sanctioned today pursuant to our counterterrorism authority is Iran's IRGC-controlled Ansar Bank and its currency exchange arm, Ansar Exchange," said Sigal Mandelker, the Treasury's under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, in the statement.
Both institutions used intermediary entities to exchange devalued Iranian rial for dollars and euros to profit the IRGC and MODAFL, she added.
As a result of the sanction, all property and interests in property of the designated individuals and entities are blocked, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from transacting with them.
Moreover, the statement noted that "any foreign financial institution that knowingly facilitates a significant transactions for any of the individuals or entities designated today could be subject to U.S. sanctions."
The U.S. government recently has intensified sanctions against Iran. The Treasury on Friday targeted 14 Iranian individuals and 17 entities, accusing their involvement in a defense research organization that assisted a past nuclear weapons program in Iran's capital Tehran.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Thursday that his country would defeat the United States in the latter's anti-Iran "economic war."
