U.S. Treasury Sanctions Five IRGC-Linked Iranians for Aiding Houthis in Yemen

In this picture taken on Sunday, Sept. 21, 2008, Iranian Revolutionary Guards members marc
AP Photo/Vahid Salemi

The United States Treasury Department on Tuesday issued a fresh set of sanctions against Iran, targeting five Iranians who are linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

The group is accused of providing ballistic missile support to Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.

“Treasury is targeting five Iranian officials who are associated with the IRGC-QF and Iran’s ballistic missile programs,” Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin said in a statement listed to the Treasury Department’s website. “Their actions have enabled the Huthis to launch missiles at Saudi cities and oil infrastructure. They have also disrupted humanitarian aid efforts in Yemen, and threatened freedom of navigation in key regional waterways.”

Mnuchin added, “The United States will not tolerate Iranian support for Huthi rebels who are attacking our close partner, Saudi Arabia. All countries in the region should be on guard to prevent Iran from sending its personnel, weapons, and funds in support of its proxies in Yemen.”

The names of the men targeted in the sanctions are Mahmud Bagheri Kazemabad, Mohammad Agha Jafari, Javad Bordbar Shir Amin, Mehdi Azarpisheh, and Sayyed Mohammad Ali Haddadnezhad Tehrani.

The Treasury Department’s statement also noted, “As President Trump made clear in his May 8, 2018 decision to cease the United States’ participation in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the United States in taking action to neutralize Iran’s campaign of regional aggression.”

President Trump authorized the Treasury Department to designate the IRGC a terrorist group on October 13, 2017. This is different from the State Department’s list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO), which does not list the IRGC.

Hours after the terrorist designation of the IRGC, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif claimed, “Iranians – boys, girls, men, women – are ALL IRGC.”

However, as Breitbart News previously reported:

Iranians – both living in the Islamic Republic and throughout the world – disagreed and rejected Zarif’s claim, creating the #WeRejectIRGC hashtag on Twitter in response. Some stated, contrary to Zarif’s tweet, that it is the IRGC that carries out acts of terror, both directly and through its proxies throughout the Middle East.

Adelle Nazarian is a politics and national security reporter for Breitbart News. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter.

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