Iran’s Foreign Ministry announced that the country has imposed sanctions against five entities and seven individuals in the US over their support for Israel.
The ministry claims the targets have been allegedly involved in “terrorist acts and gross violations of human rights through their support for the Zionist regime’s brutal actions against Palestinians, particularly the people in the Gaza Stip.”
Among the sanctioned entities are the Lockheed Martin Corporation, General Dynamics Corporation and Skydio, which Iran’s Foreign Ministry claims have armed Israel in its war against the Iran-backed Palestinian militants, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Chevron Corporation has also been targeted due to its “cooperation with Israel in the drilling of gas wells in the eastern Mediterranean,” the statement said, further adding that an intelligence company called Kharon has been banned over collaborating with the US Treasury and trying to cut off Hamas and Islamic Jihad’s access to the cryptocurrency exchange network.
US government reports reveal that the IRGC has been using cryptocurrency in recent years to fund Palestinian militant groups. Families of victims of the Hamas terror attacks of October 7 and the families of hostages taken to Gaza have sued cryptocurrency exchange Binance for its role in funding the terror group between 2017 and 2023.
Iran has also slapped sanctions on seven Americans. Among them is Jason Greenblatt, the former executive vice president and chief legal officer to Donald Trump, Michael Rubin, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, Clifford D. May, the president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and Bryan Patrick Fenton, the commander of the US Special Operations Command.
It is as yet unclear how these sanctions will be imposed by Iran, which itself is already heavily sanctioned for its nuclear program, rights abuses and military support for Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Also included is Brad Cooper, a US Navy vice admiral, Gregory J. Hayes, the CEO of RTX defense corporation, and Jason Brodsky, Policy Director at United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), who has been a vocal critic of Tehran.
Hamas’s deadly October 7 invasion of Israel claimed the lives of 1,200 mostly civilians and saw over 250 taken hostage to Gaza. The invasion was the most deadly single day for Jews since the Holocaust. It triggered the longest and bloodiest Gaza war since Hamas took control of the strip in 2007.
For months after the start of the Israel-Hamas war, the Iranian government avoided direct involvement in the conflict and used its proxies such as Yemeni Houthis, Hashd al-Shaabi, and Hezbollah to target Israeli and American targets in the region.
However, on April 13, Iran launched its first ever direct offensive against Israeli territory with more than 350 drones and cruise and ballistic missiles, 99% of which were downed, according to the Israeli army. The attack was in response to an alleged air strike by Israel killing a senior Quds Force commander and IRGC officials in Damascus last month.
In response to Iran’s operation, the US and the EU imposed new sanctions against Iran’s missile and drone programs, though Iran remains defiant in the face of global sanctions.
There have also been calls from both Iranian dissidents and international figures to designate the IRGC as a terrorist organization over its role in suppressing dissent in Iran and orchestrating attacks abroad.
