US blacklists UAE-based firms for supporting sanctioned Iranian airline

WASHINGTON — The US Treasury Department places two United Arab Emirates-based companies on its sanctions blacklist for their support of already-sanctioned Iran’s Mahan Air.

UAE-based Parthia Cargo and Delta Parts Supply FZC “have provided key parts and logistics services for Mahan Air,” the Treasury says.

Mahan, one of Iran’s leading carriers, has been blacklisted under US counterterrorism regulations for its close relationship with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force, which Washington says carries out terror activities in the Middle East.

Mahan Air especially has been used by the revolutionary Guards to support the regimes of Syrian leader Bashar Assad and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, according to the Treasury.

“The Iranian regime uses Mahan Air as a tool to spread its destabilizing agenda around the world, including to the corrupt regimes in Syria and Venezuela, as well as terrorist groups throughout the Middle East,” says Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in a statement.

“The United States will continue to take action against those supporting this airline.”

In the same action, the Treasury also places sanctions on UAE-based Iranian national Amin Mahdavi, who the Treasury says either owns or controls Parthia Cargo.

— AFP