US hits Iraq's Olympic Committee president in new Iran-related sanctions

Treasury also penalised ships involved in Iran's export of liquefied petroleum gas

An Iranian woman walks past a billboard depicting slain Lebanese Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Tehran on September 28. AFP

The US Treasury on Thursday increased its Iran-related sanctions, penalising a company with ties to Iran-backed militia groups in Iraq, and the president of Iraq's Olympic Committee.

In a statement, the Treasury Department accused the militia of helping “the Iranian regime in evading US sanctions, smuggling weapons and engaging in widespread corruption in Iraq", and of being responsible for the deaths of Americans.

“These Iran-backed groups are not only responsible for the deaths of US personnel but also conduct attacks against US interests and those of our allies across the Middle East,” the statement read.

Those sanctions included a firm it said was created by Kataib Hezbollah, a powerful Iraqi militia that has been listed as a terrorist organisation by the US.

“The militias actively undermine the Iraqi economy, monopolising resources through graft and corruption, and hinder the formation of a functioning Iraqi government that would make the region safer,” the US Treasury said.

It also unveiled sanctions against Aqeel Muftin, the president of Iraq's National Olympic Committee, accusing him of managing an Iraqi commercial bank associated with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' foreign operations arm, the Quds Force.

It said Mr Muftin and his brother Ali have “close relationships with senior intelligence officials of the IRGC and help generate and transfer funds for militias in Iraq that support the IRGC-QF".

These sanctions follow a separate round earlier on Thursday against dozens of companies, firms and ships involved in Iran's export of liquefied petroleum gas.