The United States has issued sanctions against 13 individuals and entities in Yemen and other countries that the Treasury Department says are responsible for providing millions of dollars’ worth of funding to Huthi rebels in Yemen from the sale of Iranian commodities.
The individuals and entities sanctioned use a “complex network of exchange houses and companies in multiple jurisdictions” to funnel Iranian money to the Huthis, Iran’s militant partners in Yemen, the U.S. Treasury Department said in a news release on December 7.
“The [Huthis] continue to receive funding and support from Iran, and the result is unsurprising: unprovoked attacks on civilian infrastructure and commercial shipping, disrupting maritime security and threatening international commercial trade,” Undersecretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson, said in the news release.
U.S. warships operating in international waters in the Persian Gulf have responded to the attacks, which the Treasury Department said risk broadening the conflict between Israel and Hamas, which has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States and the EU.
A top White House aide said on December 7 the United States believes that Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps is helping to plan and carry out the missile and drone attacks.
"We believe that they are involved in the conduct of these attacks, the planning of them, the execution of them, the authorization of them and ultimately they support them," deputy national-security adviser Jon Finer said at the Aspen Security Forum.
Iran denies involvement.
The Treasury Department said the sanctions imposed by its Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) target a network that Iran-based Huthi financial facilitator Sa’id al-Jamal has relied on to send the proceeds of Iranian commodity sales to the Huthis and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC).
Two of the individuals designated for sanctions -- Bilal Hudroj and Ahmet Duri -- own companies that made millions of dollars’ worth of financial transfers to Huthi rebels, according to OFAC. Their companies, based in Lebanon and Turkey, also were singled out for sanctions.
Five other companies among those blacklisted on December 7 operated in a similar fashion, handling funds on behalf of Jamal, including through one Yemen-based exchange that OFAC said was established 2021 as a means of bypassing U.S. sanctions imposed that year on Jamal’s other exchanges.
The five companies include one based in Russia -- OOO Russtroi-SK. All five are owned by Deniz Capital Maritime, established in St. Kitts and Nevis by international businessman Fadi Deniz, who OFAC said maintains identity documents from multiple countries. Both Deniz and Deniz Capital Maritime were designated for sanctions.
The sanctions announced on December 7 also hit illicit agents that organized shipments on behalf of Jamal and arranged payments for vessels used to transport commodities, the department said.
The sanctions freeze any property belonging to the designated individuals and entities in U.S. jurisdiction and bar people in the U.S. from dealings with them.