US sanctions Thai company, saying it helped blacklisted Iran airline
Treasury Department blocks assets of My Aviation in America over its work with Mahan Air, which has ‘flown fighters and material to Syria to prop up the Assad regime’
BANGKOK — The US government has imposed sanctions on a Thailand-based company it says provides services to an Iranian airline that Washington accuses of supporting terrorist activities directed by Iran’s government.
The US Treasury Department said in an announcement Friday that My Aviation Co. Ltd., headquartered in Bangkok, “provides cargo services to Mahan Air, to include freight booking,” as well as passenger booking services.
It said the Iranian airline “has routinely flown fighters and material to Syria to prop up the Assad regime, which has contributed to mass atrocities in the country and the displacement of millions of innocent civilians.”
Mahan has been accused by the US and Israel of transporting weapons and equipment on behalf of the al-Quds Force to terror groups such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
The sanctions order blocks the Thai company’s assets in the United States and generally prohibits US citizens from doing business with it.
Mahan was sanctioned in 2011 for its ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force, which oversees Iran’s military activities abroad and is itself under US sanctions.
In July the Treasury imposed sanctions on a firm in Malaysia for acting as a sales representative for the airline.
“Companies that continue to service Mahan aircraft, or facilitate Mahan flights in and out of airports in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, are on notice that they do so at great financial risk,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said at the time.
