لينك به منبع:
By Staff Writer
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) placed nine Iranian individuals and
entities on its list for supporting terrorism and transferring funds to
the Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC), just days before US Secretary of
State, Mike Pompeo’s visit Abu Dhabi next week. He is expected to meet
senior Emirati officials there.
The UAE supports US President Trump's decision to withdraw from the
Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), more commonly known as the
Iran nuclear deal. The UAE also supports Washington's demand that Iran
makes widespread changes in its foreign policy or face economic
sanctions.
Several hours after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivered a
policy speech on Iran, on May 21st, Anwar Gargash, UAE Minister of State
for Foreign Affairs posted to his official Twitter account,” Uniting
(our) efforts is the correct path for Iran to realize the futility of
its incursions and expansionism.”
An American-allied federation of seven sheikhdoms on the Arabian
Peninsula, the UAE also hosts some 5,000 U.S. troops. Dubai also is the
U.S. Navy’s busiest port of call abroad.
The move to freeze the accounts of nine Iranian individuals and
entities is in line with the local Ministerial Resolution No. 24 of
2018, according to the authorities of the Emirates Securities and
Commodities Authority (ESCA).
The names of the nine Iranian entities and individuals have not yet
been disclosed, but it is believed that they are the same suspects that
US Department of Treasury listed as supporters of terrorism last May.
The names of the suspects were released at that time — Mas’ud
Nikbakht, Sa’id Najafpur, Mohammad Hassan Khoda’i, Mohammad Reza
Khedmati Valadzghard, Meghdad Amini, Foad Salehi, as well as Jahan Aras
Kish, Rashed Exchange and Khedmati & Company Joint Partnership.
In a statement issued on May 11th, Department of Treasury announced
that the United States and United Arab Emirates disrupted a large scale
currency exchange network transferring millions of dollars to Iran’s
IRGC -Qods Force. “Today the US and the UAE jointly took action to
disrupt an extensive currency exchange network in Iran and the UAE that
has procured and transferred millions in U.S. dollar-denominated bulk
cash to Iran’s IRGC-QF) to fund its malign activities and regional proxy
groups,” it said.
US Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin stated, “Iran’s Central Bank
was complicit in the IRGC-QF’s scheme and actively supported this
network’s currency conversion and enabled its access to funds that it
held in its foreign bank accounts. This network of exchangers and
couriers has converted hundreds of millions of dollars.” He added, “The
Iranian regime and its Central Bank have abused access to entities in
the UAE to acquire U.S. dollars to fund the IRGC-QF’s malign activities,
including to fund and arm its regional proxy groups, by concealing the
purpose for which the U.S. dollars were acquired.”
As well, the state-run Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. issued a statement
on June 3rd, declaring it has an oil production capacity of 3.3 million
barrels per day. It added that it “remains on track to increase its
production capacity to 3.5 million (barrels per day) by the end of
2018.”
The oil company confirmed that it “has the ability to increase oil
production by several hundred thousand barrels of oil per day, should
this be required to help alleviate any potential supply shortage in the
market.”
The statement came as the U.S. is pressured other countries not to
purchase Iranian oil, and asked other OPEC producers like Saudi Arabia,
to increase production.
Tehran’s response was to issue a warning. In a speech on Monday to
Iranian expatriates in Switzerland, regime’s President Hassan Rouhani
threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, saying, “if Iran’s crude oil
exports were threatened, the rest of the Mideast’s would be as well,”
according to AP reports.
The U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet patrols the region. No “unsafe and
unprofessional” actions by Iranian naval forces in the Persian Gulf have
occurred since August 2017, they say.
