Treasury Department sanctions Iranian companies, agent over missile attack

March 30 (UPI) -- The Treasury Department sanctioned multiple Iranian organizations and one individual Wednesday to help curb that country's development of ballistic missiles, the Office of Foreign Assets Control said in a release.

Mohmmad Ali Hosseini used a network of companies to "procure ballistic missile propellant and related materials" to help support Iran's missile program, the department said in a release.

Those companies include Iran-based Jestar Sanat Delijan and the Sina Composite Delijan Co., which supplied the components to the country's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Research and Self Sufficiency Jihad Organization.

The group has been on the U.S. State Department's list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations since 2019.

The unit is responsible for the research and development of ballistic missiles, as well as Iran's Parchin Chemical Industries, an element of Iran's Defense Industries Organization, the department said.

Iranian procurement agent Mohammad Ali Hosseini used the network of companies to procure ballistic missile propellant and related materials in support of Iran's missile program, the government alleged.

The State Department contends Hosseini has been personally involved in high-level meetings and traveled with senior Iranian military officials to procure material and equipment from Chinese suppliers using falsified shipping documents. The equipment was used to produce solid missile propellant.

The sanctions come after multiple missiles were fired toward the U.S. consulate and a news station in Erbil, the autonomous Kurdish region in northwestern Iraq on March 12. Iran's Revolutionary Guards later claimed responsibility for the attack.

The sanctions also are a response to an Iranian enabled Houthi missile attack against a Saudi Aramco facility Friday.

The Treasury Department's actions mean all property and interests in property in the United States will be must be blocked and must be reported to the Office of Foreign Assets Control.

"This action reinforces the United States' commitment to preventing the Iranian regime's development and use of advanced ballistic missiles," Under Secretary of the Treasury Brian E. Nelson said in a release.

"While the United States continues to seek Iran's return to full compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, we will not hesitate to target those who support Iran's ballistic missile program," Nelson said.

"We will also work with other partners in the region to hold Iran accountable for its actions, including gross violations of the sovereignty of its neighbors."