The United States on Wednesday imposed sanctions on an international network of oil smuggling and money laundering led by officials in the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards that facilitated the sale of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Iranian oil to the Quds Force and the Lebanese Hezbollah group.
The ministry said in a statement that this oil smuggling network was a critical element in collecting oil revenues for Iran.
The Foreign Ministry added that it classified this network as a terrorist organization.
These sanctions are confirmation of statements by the US envoy to Iran, Robert Malley, earlier today, Wednesday, regarding Washington’s readiness to tighten sanctions on Tehran if an agreement is not reached with it.
Mali warned Tehran once morest submitting requests “outside the framework of the nuclear agreement,” adding: “We will reject any Iranian requests outside the nuclear agreement,” an implicit reference to Washington’s refusal to remove the Iranian Revolutionary Guard from the list of terrorism.
In a related context, Jim Rich, the senior Republican in the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a tweet on his Twitter account: “It was ridiculous that the Biden administration thought of removing the Revolutionary Guards from the terrorist lists, which poses a threat to Americans.” and for US national security.
Diplomatic efforts are currently being made to break the deadlock in the Vienna talks aimed at reviving the nuclear agreement, from which the United States withdrew in 2018 under its former president, Donald Trump.
Source: Arabic
