The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control on July 30 announced sanctions targeting global networks that facilitate operations of Iran’s Mahan Air and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, coordinating the financial campaign with ongoing U.S. military strikes against IRGC targets.
Mahan Air has been designated by the United States as providing material support to the IRGC and has been used to transport fighters and weapons across the Middle East. The airline has been under U.S. sanctions since 2011.
The newly designated entities include financial intermediaries, front companies and logistics networks operating across multiple countries that have enabled Mahan Air to continue operating despite existing sanctions, according to OFAC.
The action is part of a multi-layered U.S. pressure campaign that combines CENTCOM military strikes with Treasury financial sanctions and State Department diplomatic coordination. Defense and financial officials have described the approach as the most integrated U.S. campaign against Iran in years.
OFAC sanctions freeze any assets the designated entities hold within U.S. jurisdiction and prohibit American individuals and companies from doing business with them. Foreign companies that transact with sanctioned entities also risk secondary sanctions.
The designations target the financial infrastructure that allows the IRGC to project power regionally, complementing the military campaign that has struck IRGC assets for more than two consecutive weeks.