U.S. Treasury sanctions target Taliban, Iranian backers

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States targeted Afghanistan’s Taliban insurgency on Tuesday with sanctions against eight individuals, including two linked to the Quds Force of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.

The individuals, who also include two Pakistanis and four Afghans, were designated global terrorists by the Treasury Department, an action that allows the U.S. government to freeze property or interest in property under American jurisdiction.

U.S. sanctions have targeted Taliban members involved in suicide attacks and other lethal activities in Afghanistan, as well as Iranians who provide material and financial support, Treasury said in a statement.

“Iran’s provision of military training, financing and weapons to the Taliban is yet another example of Tehran’s blatant regional meddling and support for terrorism,” said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. “The United States and our partners will not tolerate the Iranian regime exploiting Afghanistan to further their destabilizing behavior.”

Mnuchin was visiting the Middle East this week to discuss ways to fight terrorist financing and upcoming Iran sanctions. The Taliban sanctions also were imposed by the seven members of the Terrorist Financing Targeting Center (TFTC), a U.S.-Gulf initiative to stem finance to militant groups.

The U.S. government will continue to target those that provide financial support to the Taliban until there is a negotiated peace settlement, Treasury said.

Saudi Arabia and Bahrain on Tuesday added Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps and Qassem Soleimani, commander of the guard’s Quds Force, to their lists of people and organizations suspected of funding terrorism, the Saudi state news agency SPA said. - Read More

U.S. Treasury sanctions target Taliban, Iranian backers | Reuters