US, UK sanction IRGC Quds Force commander

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The United States Department of Treasury announced on Tuesday that in coordination with the United Kingdom, it has designated sanctions on a high-ranking commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps - Quds Force (IRGC-QF). 

“Today, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), in coordination with the United Kingdom, is taking action against the Deputy Commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF), Mohammad Reza Falahzadeh, as well as a Houthi group member,” read a statement from the US Treasury.

The statement added that the OFAC also designated “the owner and operator of a vessel used to ship Iranian commodities that were sold to support both the Houthis and the IRGC-QF."

During the Syrian civil war, Falahzadeh was an IRGC commander and participated in the Battle of Aleppo, according to the US Treasury.

The sanctions also included Ibrahim al-Nashiri, for “having acted for or on behalf of” the Houthis, as well as the Hong Kong-based shipping firm, Cap Tees Shipping Co., Limited, for “for having materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of” an IRGC-QF-backed Houthi financial facilitator.

“Today’s action underscores our resolve to target efforts by the IRGC-QF and the Houthis to evade U.S. sanctions and fund further attacks in the region,” said the US Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson.

Yemen’s Houthis are an Iran-aligned group in control of most of the country, including its capital Sana’a. They say they are acting out of solidarity with Palestine by targeting ships linked to Israel in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab strait, a key global maritime trade route.

The US and UK launched several aerial and navy strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen since January 11, in response to the group’s repeated attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea.

On Saturday, the US alongside the UK, and with support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, and New Zealand, launched a new wave of strikes against 18 Houthi targets in Yemen, according to US Central Command (CENTCOM).

The US Treasury has intensified its crackdown on the properties of the IRGC-backed individuals and institutions in the Middle East, especially following attacks by the Iran-backed militia groups against US interests in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen.

On January 22, the US Treasury announced sanctions on Iraqi airline Fly Baghdad, and several members of the Iran-backed militia Kataib Hezbollah, including two members of the Iraqi parliament, for providing assistance to the IRGC. A week later, it identified Iraq's al-Huda Bank as an institution of “primary money laundering concerns,” and sanctioned its owner over support to Iran-backed militia groups.