New US Sanctions Against Several Institutions Linked to Quds Force and Mahan Air
The US Department of Treasury published a report on Thursday, January 24, in which it sanctioned four organizations and companies for their connections to the Quds Force or Mahan Air.
Recently, Germany also revoked Mahan Air’s license to operate in that country. A senior German government official told Reuters that this action was taken “both for security reasons” and “due to doubts about the use of this Iranian airline for military purposes.”
On the new US sanctions list are Fatemiyoun Legion, a travel company in Armenia, Farsi Air Qeshm airline, and Zainebiyoun Legion.
Regarding sanctions against the Armenian company “Fight Travel,” it is said that this company was sanctioned due to its cooperation with Mahan Air.
Iran Qeshm airline has also been placed under sanctions for its cooperation with Mahan and the Quds Force.
The Islamic Republic of Iran has sent its military forces under the name “Defenders of the Shrine” to Syria and Iraq to fight opponents of Bashar Assad and the “Islamic State” or ISIS, and has also sent a large number of Afghan and Pakistani Shiites in the form of the “Fatemiyoun Brigade” and “Zainebiyoun Legion” to Syria respectively.
In June of this year, the US released a report on “human trafficking” in Iran. In this report dated June 2018, it stated that the Iranian government and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps force Afghan migrant children and men to fight in Syria by threatening arrest and deportation to Afghanistan.
The US State Department report adds that some of these hired forces are teenage boys and even 12-13-year-olds who are sent by Iranian authorities to fight for Iran-backed militias in Syria.
In the new US Treasury Department report, Fatemiyoun and Zainebiyoun were sanctioned for their cooperation with the Quds Force.
The report also sanctioned two Boeing 747 aircraft built in 1990 and 1991 belonging to Farsi Air Qeshm airline.
Despite American opposition to the dispatch of Pakistani and Afghan nationals by Iran’s Quds Force to Syria, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, special adviser to the Speaker of Parliament for international affairs, announced on June 8 that Iran’s so-called “military adviser” forces will continue their presence in Syria.
Reports indicate that so far more than two thousand of those referred to as “Defenders of the Shrine” have been killed.
Source: Radio Farda
