U.S. targets Iraqi airline, its CEO and Hamas cryptocurrency financiers for sanctions
WASHINGTON — WASHINGTON (AP) —
The US on Monday hit Iraqi airline Fly Baghdad and its CEO with sanctions for supporting Iran’s military wing – and also imposed a fifth round of sanctions on the militant group Hamas over cryptocurrency misuse since the October 7 terrorist attack on Israel.
The sanctions come as Israel’s bombing campaign on the Gaza Strip continues — which has killed 25,000 Palestinians so far, according to the Gaza Strip Health Ministry — and Iranian-backed militias in Iraq regularly launch attacks on bases housing U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria.
In the new sanctions announced Monday, the Treasury Department said Fly Baghdad and its CEO Basheer Abdulkadhim Alwan al-Shabbani provided assistance to Iran’s military wing and its proxy groups in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. A company representative was not immediately available.
“Iran and its allies have sought to exploit regional economies and use seemingly legitimate businesses as fronts to finance and facilitate their attacks,” Treasury Department Undersecretary Brian E. Nelson said in a statement. “The United States will continue to disrupt Iran’s illicit activities aimed at undermining the stability of the region.”
The sanctions block access to U.S. property and bank accounts and prevent targeted people and companies from doing business with Americans.
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control also identified three leaders and supporters of an Iran-linked militia in Iraq, Kataib Hezbollah, as well as a company it says moves and launders money for the organization.
Since the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas, an umbrella group of Iran-backed militias in Iraq, calling themselves the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, have launched attacks on bases housing US troops in Iraq and Syria. The group has said the attacks are in retaliation for Washington’s support for Israel in the war in Gaza and aim to drive US troops out of Iraq.
Most attacks have failed or been shot down and caused no casualties, but on Saturday a rocket salvo launched at al-Asad air base in western Iraq wounded a number of US personnel and an Iraqi soldier stationed there.
Some of the Iranian-backed Iraqi militias, including Kataib Hezbollah, officially operate under the control of the Iraqi military as part of a coalition known as the Popular Mobilization Forces, which played a key role in the fight against the Islamic State extremist group when these swept through Iraq and Syria and conquered large parts of the territory. In practice, however, the groups operate largely outside the control of the state.
In addition, the US on Monday sanctioned a network of Hamas-affiliated financial exchanges in Gaza, including financial facilitators that transferred money from Iran to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza via cryptocurrency.
Britain and Australia coordinated these sanctions with the US.
“Hamas has attempted to use a variety of financial transfer mechanisms, including the exploitation of cryptocurrency, to channel funds in support of the group’s terrorist activities,” Nelson said. “The Treasury Department, in close coordination with our allies and partners, will continue to use our authorities to attack Hamas, its backers, and its international financial infrastructure.”
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Associated Press reporter Abby Sewell reported from Beirut, Lebanon.