Bahram Qassemi
New U.S. sanctions against Iran are part of a psychological war, foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi said on Wednesday, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).
"This action shows the spitefulness of the government of America toward the Iranian people and is a clear insult to legal and international mechanisms," Qassemi said.
The Syrian government gave approval for the U.N. to deliver aid next week to thousands of civilians stranded near a U.S. garrison on the Jordanian-Syrian border, aid workers and camp officials said on Wednesday.A siege earlier this month by the Syrian army and a block on aid by Jordan has depleted food at the camp in the southeastern Syrian area of Rukban. This led to at least a dozen deaths in the past week among its over 50,000 inhabitants, mainly women and children, residents and U.N. sources told Reuters.The United Nations contacted local officials in the camp to say they had received authorisation from Damascus to send an aid convoy on Oct. 25.The Syrian army has tightened its siege of the camp, which is also near the Iraqi border, preventing smugglers and traders from delivering food.New developments in East Mediterranean energyJordan, which agreed early this year to allow a one-off aid shipment, has said since it should not be held responsible as the camp was not on its territory and all future provisions must come from U.N. stores inside Syria.In the last three years, tens of thousands of people have fled to the camp from Daesh-held parts of Syria that were being targeted by Russian and U.S.-led coalition air strikes.Rukban lies within a 55 km (35 mile) "deconfliction zone" set up by the U.S. Pentagon. This is designed to shield the Tanf garrison from attacks by pro-Assad forces and maintain for Washington a strategic foothold in an area along the Baghdad-Damascus highway that was a crucial supply route for Iranian weapons entering Syria from Iraq.US sanctions financial network supporting IRGC wing
Syria approves UN aid delivery to remote camp on Jordan-Syria border
The U.S. on Tuesday sanctioned a wide network businesses it says support a branch of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) that recruits Iranian and Afghan child soldiers for combat in Syria.The Treasury Department said the financial network supports the Basij Resistance Force, a paramilitary force subordinate to the IRGC.In all the U.S. sanctioned at least 20 businesses and banks, including a steel company, several financial groups, and a mine development firm. All are alleged to be part of Bonyad Taavon Basij, or Basij Cooperative Foundation, which is accused of funneling money to the force through a complex system of shell companies and financial measures.The sanctions come amid the Donald Trump administration's push to apply financial pressure on Tehran.Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement accompanying the sanctions announcement that the network "is an example of how the IRGC and Iranian military forces have expanded their economic involvement in major industries, and infiltrated seemingly legitimate businesses to fund terrorism and other malign activities.""This vast network provides financial infrastructure to the Basij’s efforts to recruit, train, and indoctrinate child soldiers who are coerced into combat under the IRGC’s direction,” said Mnuchin said.The Treasury Department said "many of" the designated firms have "significant international dealings across the Middle East and with Europe."As a result of the blacklistings, Americans are generally prohibited from doing business with the firms and any assets belonging to them within U.S. jurisdiction have been frozen.'Sanctions against Russia damage Italian companies''No sanctions deal with Turkey over pastor'Iranian crude exports fall further as Trump's sanctions loomEU sanctions target chemical weapons crackdown
US sanctions financial network supporting IRGC wing