- UK sanctions financiers within the
Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and senior commanders.
- Those sanctioned include five
members on the Board of Directors of the IRGC Co-operative
Foundation, the body responsible for managing the IRGC’s
investments.
- Two senior IRGC commanders
operating in Tehran and Alborz provinces also sanctioned for
gross human rights violations.
The UK has imposed sanctions on senior officials of the Iranian
Revolutionary Guard Corps, it announced today.
The IRGC, the branch of the Iranian Armed Forces responsible for
the internal and external security of Iran, has been at the
forefront of the repression of protest in Iran which has seen
more than 500 killed and tens of thousands imprisoned.
The UK has sanctions in place on the IRGC in its entirety. Since
October, the UK has imposed new sanctions on more than a dozen
senior IRGC officials under our Iran human rights regime,
most recently on a number
of senior commanders on 20 February.
As a result the UK has sanctioned five members of the Board of
Directors of the IRGC Co-operative Foundation, an economic
conglomerate established by senior IRGC officials to manage the
group’s investments in the Iranian economy.
Foreign Secretary
said:
“Today we are taking action on the senior leaders within the IRGC
who are responsible for funnelling money into the regime’s brutal
repression.
“Together with our partners around the world, we will continue to
stand with the Iranian people as they call for fundamental change
in Iran.”
Established initially to support IRGC service members, the
Foundation has broadened out its remit to funding the IRGC’s
repressive activities in Iran and abroad.
The Foundation is also responsible for funding militant groups
associated with the IRGC’s external operations arm, the IRGC-Quds
Force. The Quds force is responsible for carrying out lethal
activities outside of Iran by, for example, providing training,
funding and weapons to groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas. It has
been accused of setting up
fake companies in Syria to support the development of Quds Force
activities in Syria.
The UK also imposed sanctions on further IRGC provincial
commanders for their roles in overseeing human right violations
against protestors. Today’s designations include Ahmed Zulqadr,
Commander of the IRGC Seyyed al-Shohada provincial corps in
Tehran province and Deputy Commander of IRGC corps in Tehran
City, and Alireza Heydarnia, Commander of the IRGC for the Alborz
Province.
These sanctions constitute an asset freeze and UK travel ban on
the individuals concerned and send a wider signal on the UK’s
commitment to backing condemnation with action.
ENDS
NOTES TO EDITORS:
The full list of those sanctioned today is as follows:
-
Nourouzi, Chairman of the
Board of Directors the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)
Cooperative Foundation.
- Seyyed Aminollah Emami Tabatabai,
Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Cooperative Foundation.
- Yahya Ala’Oddini, Director of the
Board of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Cooperative
Foundation.
- Jamal Babamoradi, Director of the
Board of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Cooperative
Foundation.
- Ahmad Karimi, Director of the Board
of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Cooperative
Foundation.
- Ahmed Zulqadr, Commander of the
Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Seyyed al-Shohada
Provincial Corps in Tehran Province and the Deputy Commander of
IRGC Corps in Tehran City.
- Alireza Heydarnia, Commander of the
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) for the Alborz Province.
