Washington, March 27 The US government has blacklisted 20 individuals and companies based in Iran and Iraq, accusing them of supporting the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force (IRGC-QF) and other Iranian-backed militias.
In a statement on Thursday, the Department of Treasury said that the designated individuals and entities provided support to or act on behalf of the IRGC-QF, as well as transferred lethal aid to Iranian-backed militias in Iraq such as the Kata'ib Hezbollah (KH) and Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq (AAH), reports Xinhua news agency.
According to the designation, all property and interests of the property of designated persons and entities in the US have been blocked and US persons are generally prohibited from engaging in any transactions with them.
The sanctions came after two successive rocket attacks on Iraq's Camp Taji military base earlier this month, which claimd the lives of US service members.
The US claimed that KH was responsible for numerous attacks against the American and Coalition Forces in Iraq, including a rocket attack on a base near Kirkuk (the K1 base) last December that had killed a US civilian contractor and injured fourservice members.
The rocket attack on the K1 base led to the January 3 US drone attack in Baghdad that killed Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani.
( With inputs from IANS )