Trump administration slaps new sanctions to punish Iran and Syria
Source: Politico
By CAITLIN OPRYSKO 11/20/2018 11:53 AM EST Updated 11/20/2018 01:05 PM EST
The Trump administration on Tuesday announced new sanctions designed to punish both Iran and Syria and choke off illicit oil sales.
The new actions target Syrian national Mohammad Amer Alchwiki and his Russia-based company, Global Vision Group, along with seven other entities including a subsidiary of the Russian Ministry of Energy and a Russian employee who senior administration officials said participated in a scheme shipping "millions of barrels" of Iranian oil through Russia to Syria.
Administration officials said Tuesday that the scheme involved funneling money from Iran’s central bank through an Iranian company posing as a medical and pharmaceuticals business to a state-owned Russian bank account. That money was then used to assist Syria in paying Russia for oil. The oil ships would “routinely switch off their tracking devices to mask the fact that they are delivering illicit oil to Syria,” prompting Treasury to issue a maritime advisory to warn about the scheme.
The administration said that Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime then facilitated the movement of "hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars" to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps "for onward transfer to Hamas and Hezbollah" – groups designated as terrorist organizations.
Read more: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/11/20/trump-sanctions-iran-syriaoil-1006259
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