US sanctions Iraq-based company for alleged IRGC ties
The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced that the South Wealth Resources Company (SWRC), Makki Kazim ‘Abd Al Hamid al-Asadi, and Muhammed Hussein Salih al-Hasani were designated pursuant to an executive order for being linked to the IRGC.
“Treasury is taking action to shut down Iranian weapons smuggling networks that have been used to arm regional proxies of the IRGC Quds Force in Iraq, while personally enriching regime insiders,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.
Washington stated the SWRC and two individuals have "trafficked hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of weapons to IRGC-QF [Quds Force]-backed Iraqi militias." The Quds Force is a unit of the IRGC that carries out extraterritorial operations.
It claims Asadi, 61, and Hasani, 64, received "commission payments" for contracts with SWRC by Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. Both Asadi and Hasani are Iraqi nationals, according to the US government.
Muhandis is the deputy commander of the Hashd al-Shaabi and is known to be close to Iran's Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani.
The US designated the IRGC a foreign terrorist organization in April, and targeted their assets under US jurisdiction, including their use of the US banking system.
SWRC, also called Manabea Tharwat Al-Janoob General Trading Co., is based in the al-Jadriya district of eastern Baghdad. They are accused by the US of “facilitating the IRGC-QF’s weapons smuggling into Iraq”.
“SWRC has moved millions of dollars to Iraq for illicit financial activity benefiting the IRGC-QF and its Iraq-based militia groups”, read the Treasury’s statement.
Iran’s government and hardliners have said repeatedly that the Islamic Republic will be able to weather the US storm of sanctions which have not just targeted individuals and entities from Iran, but also Syria, North Korea, Venezuela, Cuba, Russia, and other countries.
However, Oil Minister Bijan Zangeneh told a group of Iranian lawmakers last week that in this new era of sanctions, they are becoming increasingly difficult to circumvent, as the United States has made a “mockery” of their use. He added that in the face of the war, Iran “will stand firmly and not retreat.”
US takes harder stance against Iraq
The Treasury Department called on Baghdad to do more to counter Iran's "activities" in the Middle East.
"The Iraqi financial sector and the broader international financial system must harden their defenses against the continued deceptive tactics emanating from Tehran in order to avoid complicity in the IRGC’s ongoing sanctions evasion schemes and other malign activities," Mnuchin implored.
Iraq’s Ambassador to Iran revealed in Tehran last week that Baghdad would be asking Washington to extend current waivers allowing it to import Iranian electricity. The State Department said on June 5 that it hadn’t yet made a decision on whether to renew the waivers. They are set to expire on June 18.
Initially, the United States granted Iraq a 45-day waiver to import electricity from Iran as Washington re-imposed sanctions on Tehran in November last year after it left the nuclear deal. That waiver was renewed twice in December and March for 90 days each time.
Iraqi officials have repeatedly said they don't want the country to become a battleground for US-Iran animosity. Last week at a summit of mostly Arab and Islamic countries in Saudi Arabia, Iraqi President Barham Salih rejected the final communique of the meetings for containing heavy anti-Iran language.
The Iraqi prime minister is the commander-in-chief of all armed forces in the country, including the Hashd, also known as the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF). They include units close to Iran like Muhandis and Qais al-Khazali of Asaib Ahl al-Haq, but also more nationalistic groups led by Muqtada al-Sadr.
The PMF also include members and units from Iraq's ethno-religious minorities including Sunnis, Christians, Shabaks, and Yezidis.
Anniversary of Speicher Massacre
Five years ago on June 12, Islamic State (ISIS) militants stormed the Tikrit Air Academy (formerly known as Camp Speicher) and captured and murdered at least 1,500 cadets — most of whom where Shiite.
"This brutal massacre against these unarmed cadets is one of many instances of [ISIS’s] disregard of the laws that bind humanity together. Those killed were overwhelmingly Shia Muslims," said the United Nations Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by ISIS (UNITAD) in a statement on Wednesday.
The UN body is headed by British lawyer Karim A. A. Khan. It works closely with Iraqi authorities to conduct investigations into ISIS atrocities to hold its suspected members to account by gathering evidence that can be used by courts, survivors, and international bodies.
"Today we pause to remember their lives, as we do on other days to remember those many members of the Christian, Yazidi, Sunni, Shia Turkmen, Kakai and all other communities who were targeted by Daesh", UNITAD added, using the Arabic acronym for ISIS.
The Speicher event, combined with ISIS taking control of Mosul and much of western Iraq, led to Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani issuing a fatwa, calling on people to take up arms against the extremists.
The Hashd al-Shaabi was loosely organized and mobilized. In late 2016, the Iraqi parliament formally integrated the group into the Iraqi Security Forces.
Iran, as the first nation to come to Iraq’s aid when ISIS seized swathes of the country in 2014, played a substantial role supporting the militias; whereas, the US-led international anti-ISIS coalition said it was unable to provide any assistance to the PMFs.
The Iraqi government’s control of some elements of the Hashd was an issue former Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi struggled with. It is yet to be seen how PM Adil Abdul-Mahdi will manage the PMFs.