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The United States has announced sanctions on members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) as part of an effort to dismantle “Hamas’s funding networks” following the militant group’s “barbaric” attack on Israel earlier this month.
The U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement on October 27 that it was also designating a Hamas official in Iran and a Gaza-based entity that “has served as a conduit for illicit Iranian funds” to Hamas and other militant groups.
“Today’s action underscores the United States’ commitment to dismantling Hamas’s funding,” said Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo in the statement.
“We will not hesitate to take action to further degrade Hamas’s ability to commit horrific terrorist attacks by relentlessly targeting its financial activities and streams of funding,” he added.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a separate statement said the individuals designated supported Hamas and were involved in financing and training Hamas militants.
“A number of the individuals and entities designated today have played key roles in facilitating sanctions evasion by Hamas-affiliated companies,” Blinken said.
The State Department is offering millions of dollars in rewards for information on certain activities by Hamas and its leaders, Blinken added.
This is the second round of sanctions that Washington has imposed on Hamas-linked officials and financial networks since the group’s surprise attack on October 7 that Israeli officials say killed some 1,400 people, the worst Jewish massacre since the Holocaust.
Hamas, designated a terrorist organization by the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union along with some other Western countries, also took more than 200 hostages, some of them infants, during the assault.
U.S. officials have said they do not have evidence tying Iran to ordering or planning the attack, but they have said Tehran is complicit because of its long-term support for Hamas.
Israel has responded to the attack with air strikes, which the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry in Gaza said have killed at least 7,000 people, while also cutting off supplies of water and power to the Gaza Strip.
Iranian leaders have called for a halt to Israel’s retaliatory strikes and warned “other fronts will open up” in the conflict.
The new U.S. sanctions “underscore the critical role Iran plays in providing financial, logistical, and operational support to Hamas,” the Treasury Department said on October 27.
Among those targeted are Khaled Qaddoumi, described as a liaison between Hamas and the Iranian government, and Ali Morshed Shirazi and Mostafa Mohammad Khani, officials in the IRGC’s Quds Force who are accused of training and assisting Hamas fighters.
The United States also sanctioned a number of organizations, including the Iranian Bonyad Shahid, also known as the Martyrs Foundation, which according to Washington funnels millions of dollars through the Gaza-based Al-Ansar Charity Association for the families of militants — a practice that “ultimately serves as a recruiting tool for terrorist activities,” the Treasury Department said.
Companies based in Sudan and Spain were also targeted, as were Turkey-based shareholders of a company previously designated as part of the Hamas investment portfolio.
The targeted individuals and entities “play a key role in operating companies in Hamas’s investment portfolio in circumvention of the sanctions” imposed by the United States, the Treasury Department said.
The sanctions freeze any U.S.-based assets owned or controlled by the individuals and organizations. They also block financial transactions with those designated and prohibit the contribution of funds, goods, and services to them.
Earlier this week, the U.S. military carried out strikes against two facilities in eastern Syria used by the IRGC and groups it backs following a spate of attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria.
With reporting by Reuters and AP
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