Treasury sanctions eight for ties to Taliban, Iran militia

The Treasury Department on Tuesday targeted eight members of the Taliban and Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp. Qods Forces with financial sanctions through a year-old partnership with six Middle Eastern countries.

Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated eight individuals operating out of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran as terrorists for allegedly funding or organizing Taliban and Qods forces attacks. Those targeted under the sanctions are banned from the U.S. financial system.

Treasury announced the action Tuesday morning in conjunction with Terrorist Financing Targeting Center (TFTC), the group of six Middle Eastern countries and the U.S. formed last year.

The coalition including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates is meant to coalesce efforts to cut off funding to terrorist groups and Iran-backed militias.

The U.S. sanctioned Mohammad Ebrahim Owhadi (also known as Jalal Vahedi), Esma’il Razavi, Abdullah Samad Faroqui, Mohammad Daoud Muzzamil, Abdul Rahim Manan, Abdul Aziz (also known as Aziz Shah Zamani), Sadr Ibrahim, and Hafiz Majid under a 2001 executive order targeting funding to terrorist groups.

“The TFTC has again demonstrated its tremendous value to international security by disrupting and exposing key Taliban members who are involved in suicide attacks, and other lethal activities,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.

“The United States and our partners will not tolerate the Iranian regime exploiting Afghanistan to further their destabilizing behavior.”

Mnuchin is in the closing stretch of a Middle East trip focused on coordinating anti-terrorism funding efforts with key regional allies. The Treasury secretary met with counterparts in Israel and Jordan last week and on Monday with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Mnuchin trip comes amid the growing crisis over the October 2 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. The secretary pulled out of a Riyadh investment conference but kept meetings on terrorism financing in Saudi Arabia on his schedule.