Search form

You are here

  • Home
  • US sanctions target individuals, entities in Iran and Syria


US sanctions target individuals, entities in Iran and Syria

Short Url

https://arab.news/2efkz

Updated 07 December 2021
Reuters
Follow

US sanctions target individuals, entities in Iran and Syria

Updated 07 December 2021
Reuters

WASHINGTON: The US on Tuesday imposed sanctions on more than a dozen people and entities in Iran, Syria and Uganda, accusing them of being connected to serious human rights abuses and repressive acts.

In an action marking the week of the US Summit for Democracy, the Treasury Department said in a statement it was targeting repression and the undermining of democracy, designating individuals and entities tied to the violent suppression of peaceful protesters in Iran and deadly chemical weapons attacks against civilians in Syria, among others.

“Treasury will continue to defend against authoritarianism, promoting accountability for violent repression of people seeking to exercise their human rights and fundamental freedoms,” Andrea Gacki, director of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, said in the statement.

Washington blacklisted two senior Syrian Air Force officers it accused of being responsible for chemical weapon attacks on civilians and three senior officers in Syria's security and intelligence apparatus, according to the statement.

In Iran, the US designated the Special Units of Iran's Law Enforcement Forces and Counter-Terror Special Forces, as well as several of their officials, and Gholamreza Soleimani, who commands Iran's hardline Basij militia. Two prisons and a prison director were also blacklisted over events that reportedly took place in them.

Tuesday's action freezes any US assets of those blacklisted and generally bars Americans from dealing with them.

Topics: US Iran Syria sanctions US sanctions

Related

Middle-East
US amends Syria sanctions rules over NGO activities
Update
Middle-East
Iran gives drafts on sanctions, issues to European nuclear deal parties

Russia ships diesel to Syria on tanker under US sanctions, data shows

Updated 2 sec ago
Follow

Russia ships diesel to Syria on tanker under US sanctions, data shows

Updated 2 sec ago
According to LSEG data, the Barbados-flagged vessel Prosperity was loaded with about 37,000 metric tons of ultra-low sulfur diesel
The tanker is anchored near the Syrian port of Banias, LSEG shipping data shows

MOSCOW/BEIRUT: Russia shipped a diesel cargo to Syria onboard a tanker under US sanctions, the first known such direct supply to the Middle Eastern country in more than a decade, LSEG data showed.
The final destination of the cargo is unclear. Russia has two main military installations in Syria: an air base in Hmeimim and a naval base in Tartous, integral to Russia’s military reach in the Middle East and Africa.
Russia’s control over the bases is under threat following the sudden fall of Bashar Assad last year. Moscow has said it wanted to keep its hold over them.
According to LSEG data, the Barbados-flagged vessel Prosperity (previously known as Gabon-flagged NS Pride) was loaded with about 37,000 metric tons of ultra-low sulfur diesel at the Russian Baltic port of Primorsk on Feb. 8.
The tanker is anchored near the Syrian port of Banias, LSEG shipping data shows. Fornax itself is also under the US sanctions. The company was not immediately available for comment.
US sanctions on Russia since the start of the 2022 invasion of Ukraine have included measures aimed at limiting revenues from the country’s huge oil and gas industry and weakening its ability to fund the military efforts.
The United States on January 10 added the Prosperity to the list of sanctioned vessels, which includes some 180 tankers, involved in the export of Russian oil products following its war in Ukraine. The EU and the UK followed suit on February 24.
Violations of the US sanctions programs may result in civil and, in some cases, criminal penalties.
In one such case, US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)
announced
last year a settlement of $7.45 million with the State Street Bank for “apparent violations” of the Russia and Ukraine-related sanctions.
At the same time, the US issued a six-month waiver to its Syria sanctions, focused on the energy sector and financial transfers to Syrian governing authorities.
Syrian oil ministry officials did not immediately respond to text messages seeking comment. Russia’s energy ministry declined to comment.
This is the first direct diesel shipment from Russia to Syria since at least 2013, according to LSEG data.
Syria also issued an import tender for 20,000 tons of LPG and was seeking to import oil as no crude shipments have arrived from Iran, its key supplier, since November, according to data from shipping analytics firm Kpler.
Syria has two oil refineries, located in Homs and Banias, which ceased operating after Assad’s fall.


Russia shipped a diesel cargo to Syria onboard a tanker under US sanctions, the first known such direct supply to the Middle Eastern country in more than a decade, LSEG data showed. (AP)

Syria leftover explosives kill and injure over 180 children: NGO

Updated 06 March 2025
AFP
Follow

Syria leftover explosives kill and injure over 180 children: NGO

Updated 06 March 2025
AFP

BEIRUT:Landmines and unexploded ordnance in Syria have killed or injured at least 188 children since president Bashar Assad’s overthrow in December, the Save the Children charity said Thursday.
Of that figure, more than 60 children were killed, the UK-based group said, warning the toll could rise as more families return to the war-ravaged country.
Since Assad was toppled on December 8, “landmines and explosive remnants of war have caused at least 628 casualties, more than two-thirds of the total number of casualties for all of 2023,” Save the Children said.
The United Nations last week said about 1.2 million people had returned home to Syria in the past three months, including over 885,000 who were internally displaced.
“Much of Syria is pockmarked by mines and explosive remnants of war after 13 years of conflict,” said Bujar Hoxha, the charity’s Syria director.
“At least 188 children have been killed or injured in about three months — that’s an average of two children a day,” he added.
The group called on the transitional authorities and international donors to speed up the process of clearing mines and unexploded ordnance in Syria.
A report by non-governmental organization Humanity and Inclusion last month had warned of the dangers posed by unexploded munitions left over from the devastating civil war that erupted in 2011.
It said experts estimated that between 100,000 and 300,000 of the roughly one million munitions used during the war had never detonated.
Also last month, at least eight civilians including three children were killed when unexploded munitions ignited at a house in northwestern Syria, a war monitor and the civil defense said.

Topics: Syria

UN Security Council warns against Sudan rival government

Updated 06 March 2025
AFP
Follow

UN Security Council warns against Sudan rival government

Updated 06 March 2025
AFP

The UN Security Council has voiced “grave concern” over a charter signed by Sudan’s paramilitary forces, warning it could deepen the country’s war and worsen the humanitarian crisis.
The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, at war with Sudan’s army since April 2023, signed the charter last month with its allies to establish a “government of peace and unity” in RSF-held areas.
“The members of the Security Council expressed grave concern over the signing of a charter to establish a parallel governing authority in Sudan,” council members said in a statement late on Wednesday.
They warned such a move would “risk exacerbating the ongoing conflict in Sudan, fragmenting the country, and worsening an already dire humanitarian situation.”
They also urged warring factions to immediately cease hostilities and engage in “political dialogue and diplomatic efforts toward a durable ceasefire.”
For nearly two years, the army and RSF have been locked in fighting that has killed tens of thousands of people, uprooted more than 12 million and created what the International Rescue Committee calls the “biggest humanitarian crisis ever recorded.”
The war has torn the country in two, with the army controlling the north and east, while the RSF holds nearly all of the western region of Darfur and swathes of the south.
In recent weeks, army forces have made gains in the capital Khartoum and in central Sudan, retaking key areas that were swiftly seized by paramilitaries when the war began.

Topics: Sudan

PKK must disarm ‘immediately’: Turkiye defense ministry source

Updated 06 March 2025
AFP
Follow

PKK must disarm ‘immediately’: Turkiye defense ministry source

  • Last week, PKK founder Abdullah Ocalan urged his militant group to dissolve and his fighters to lay down their arms in a historic call
Updated 06 March 2025
AFP

ISTANBUL: Outlawed Kurdish group PKK and all groups allied with it must disarm “immediately,” a Turkish defense ministry source said on Thursday, apparently referring to Kurdish forces in Syria.
“The PKK and all groups affiliated with it must end all terrorist activities, dissolve and immediately and unconditionally lay down their weapons,” the source said.
Last week, PKK founder Abdullah Ocalan urged his militant group to dissolve and his fighters to lay down their arms in a historic call.
The 75-year-old founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party has been jailed since 1999.
The PKK, which has engaged in a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state in which tens of thousands of people have died, declared a ceasefire on Saturday and said it would comply with Ocalan’s call.
But President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has backed the peace move, was quick to warn that if the promises weren’t kept, the military would continue its anti-PKK operations.
“We always keep our iron fist ready in case the hand we extend is left hanging in the air or bitten,” he said on Saturday.
Since January 1, 478 “terrorists” have been “neutralized” in anti-PKK military operations, the source said, of which 195 were in Iraq and 283 in Syria.

Topics: Turkiye

US pushes for Kurdish oil exports resumption at Baghdad meeting

Updated 06 March 2025
Reuters
Follow

US pushes for Kurdish oil exports resumption at Baghdad meeting

Updated 06 March 2025
Reuters

BAGHDAD/DUBAI: A US diplomat will attend a planned meeting in Baghdad on Thursday on the resumption of Kurdish oil exports via Turkiye’s Ceyhan pipeline, five sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters, as Washington continues to push for a restart.
The Iraqi oil ministry is hosting the talks on accelerating a resumption in oil exports from Iraq’s semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan region. They have been delayed till Thursday due to disagreements over terms between oil firms and the oil ministry.
One of the sources, an Iraqi oil ministry official with direct knowledge of the meeting, said the planned attendance of the diplomat, based at the US embassy in Baghdad, had come in response to a request from Washington.
The White House National Security Office did not respond to a request for comment on the matter.
“The presence of the US diplomat aims to help push the negotiations forward and reach solutions to the issues hindering the resumption of oil exports in a way that satisfies all parties,” the oil ministry official said.
Reuters revealed last month that Iraq has come under increasing US
pressure
to allow Kurdish oil exports via Turkiye, thereby boosting supply to the global market at a time when Washington wants to reduce Iranian oil exports as part of its efforts to curb Tehran’s nuclear program.
Iran views its neighbor and ally Iraq as vital for keeping its economy afloat amid international sanctions.
But Baghdad, a partner of both the United States and Iran, is wary of getting caught in the crosshairs of President Donald Trump’s policy of squeezing Tehran, sources have told Reuters.
“There is strong insistence from the US side on ensuring the success of the negotiations (on resuming Kurdish oil exports) by any means,” said a government official close to the talks. “We hope that the US role will help reach a reasonable and acceptable agreement for the Iraqi government.”

Topics: Iraq

Latest updates

Russia ships diesel to Syria on tanker under US sanctions, data shows
International hockey returns to Pakistan as German junior team arrives in Islamabad 
Pakistan says privatization of PIA to be completed in three months 
Four Afghanistan-based militants arrested in southwest Pakistan, were planning ‘major attack’ — state media
Pakistan PM directs creation of skills database to boost local industries, overseas employment

Search form

Print Edition
Read pdf version Subscribe now
© 2025 SAUDI RESEARCH & PUBLISHING COMPANY, All Rights Reserved And subject to Terms of Use Agreement.