Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — Saudi Arabia, the United States and five other countries imposed on Wednesday sanctions on 25 corporations, banks and people linked to Iran’s support for militant networks including Hezbollah.

The targets were announced by the Terrorist Financing Targeting Center (TFTC) nations, which also include the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar.

Saudi Arabia designated three other names in addition to the 25 ones and accordingly all their assets are frozen.

The Presidency of State Security and its partners at TFTC jointly issued a statement designating a network of corporations, banks, and individuals supporting Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Hezbollah terrorist activities, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

“Today, the seven member TFTC states jointly designated 25 targets affiliated with the Iranian regime’s terror-support networks in the region. This is the TFTC’s largest joint designation to date, and is focused on entities supporting Iran’s IRGC and Iran’s regional proxy, the terrorist Hezbollah,” the statement said.

They targeted companies supporting the Basij Resistance Force, a subordinate group of the Revolutionary Guard, that the United States Treasury said are used "to oppress domestic opposition with brutal displays of violence" and supply fighters to regional conflicts.

Among the 25 was Iranian Bank Mellat and mining, manufacturing and investment firms that allegedly support the Basij. Four of those listed were individuals running Hezbollah's operations in Iraq, the Treasury said. All 25 have previously been named in US Treasury sanctions announced in 2018.

Several of the businesses targeted in this action are providing financial support to the Basij Resistance Force (Basij), a paramilitary force subordinate to the IRGC that have long been used recruiting, training and deploying fighters to fight in IRGC-fueled conflicts and perpetrate terrorist acts across the region.

The TFTC’s coordinated disruption of the financial networks used by the Iranian regime to fund terrorism is a unified position of the Gulf countries and the US that Iran will not be allowed to escalate its malign terrorist activities in the region.

“Today’s action is multilateral action by TFTC partners to expose and condemn the Iranian regime’s gross and repeated violations of international norms, including the attack that threatens the global economy by targeting the oil facility in Saudi Arabia, fomenting strife and perpetrate subversive activities in neighboring countries through regional proxies such as the terrorist Hezbollah.

“This coordinated action is a concrete step towards denying the Iranian regime the ability to undermine the stability of the region,” the statement noted.

The TFTC was announced as an effective effort to expand and strengthen the cooperation amongst the seven countries to counter the financing of terrorism. The TFTC coordinates terror funding disruptive actions, shares information, and builds member state capacity to target activities posing national security threats to TFTC members.

The Kingdom designated three other names as well as the 25 ones, pursuant to the Law of Combating the Crimes of Terrorism and it’s Financing issued by a royal decree no. A/21 and in accordance with the United Nations resolution no. 1373 (2001), as a result of this, all assets of all below designated 28 names are frozen.

They are prohibited from engaging in any direct or indirect transactions related to the designated names.

1-Basij Resistance Force. 2- Bonyad Taavan Basij. 3- Mehr Eqtesad Bank. 4- Bank Mellat. 5- Mehr Eqtesad Iranian Investment Company. 6- Tadirgaran Atiyeh Iranian Investment Company. 7- Negin Sahel Roayl Investment Company. 8- Mehr Eqtesad Bank. 9- Technotar Engineering Company.

10- Taktar Investment Company. 11- Iran Tractor Manufacturing Company. 12- Iran Zinc Mines Development Company. 13– Calcimin. 14- Qeshm Zinc Smelting and Reduction Company. 15- Bandar Abbas Zinc Production Company. 16- Zanjan Acid Production Company. 17- Parsian Catalyst Chemical Company.

18- Esfahan Mobarakeh Steel Company. 19- Andisheh Mehvaran Investment Company. 20- Parsian Bank. 21- Sina Bank. 22- Bahman Group. 23- Shibl Muhsin Al-Zaydi. 24- Yusuf Hashim. 25- Muhammad Abd-Al-Hadi Farhat. 26- Adnan Hussein Kawtharani. 27- Jawad Nasrallah. 28- Qassim Abdullah Ali.

Meanwhile, banks in Malaysia are closing the accounts of Iranian individuals and companies, nearly a dozen affected people said, in a sign that US sanctions are having far-reaching effects on citizens of the Islamic republic. With input from agencies