The United States is imposing sanctions on one individual and six companies, and blocking three vessels, for their involvement in generating illicit support for the Houthis on behalf of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Qods Force-backed Houthi financier Sa’id al-Jamal.
The United States is also sanctioning one company and blocking four of its vessels tied to Hezbollah official Muhammad Qasim al-Bazzal and the shipment of Iranian liquefied petroleum gas valued at tens of millions of dollars.
Since the Houthis began their attacks on Red Sea shipping last year, the United States has sanctioned dozens of entities, individuals, and ships associated with the network of al-Jamal. The network relies on a host of shipping companies, vessels, and facilitators to enable the sale and shipment of Iranian commodities, including oil and petroleum products, in order to generate revenue for the Houthis and the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Qods Force.
The revenue from this network finances the Houthis’ reckless attacks in vital waterways and strikes on civilian infrastructure, with devastating consequences for the region and globe.
These sanctions, said Acting Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Bradley Smith, underscore “our continued commitment to disrupting Iran’s primary source of funding to its regional terrorist proxies like Lebanese Hezbollah and the Houthis. Our message is clear: those who seek to finance these groups’ destabilizing activities will be held to account.”
As a result of the latest sanctions, all property and interests in property of these individuals and entities must be blocked and reported to the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC. Furthermore, OFAC’s regulations generally prohibit all transactions by U.S. persons or within the United States that involve any property or interests in property of designated or otherwise blocked persons.
“We will continue to use the tools at our disposal to deprive the Houthis of revenue to carry out their attacks on international shipping,” said State Department Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel in a statement, “and we will continue to confront Iran’s enabling Houthi attacks.”
