The UK government has announced sanctions against the financiers of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and its senior commanders.
Those sanctioned include five members of the Board of Directors of the IRGC Co-operative Foundation, the body responsible for managing the IRGC’s investments, and two senior IRGC commanders operating in Tehran and Alborz provinces over gross human rights violations.
The UK has already imposed sanctions on the IRGC itself “in its entirety”.
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said in a statement: “Today we are taking action on the senior leaders within the IRGC who are responsible for funnelling money into the regime’s brutal repression.
“Together with our partners around the world, we will continue to stand with the Iranian people as they call for fundamental change in Iran.”
Although established initially to support IRGC service members, the Co-operative Foundation has broadened its remit to include funding the “IRGC’s repressive activities in Iran and abroad.”
According to the Foreign Office, the Foundation is also responsible for funding militant groups associated with the IRGC’s external operations arm, the IRGC-Quds Force.
The Quds force is responsible for carrying out “lethal activities outside Iran by, for example, providing training, funding and weapons to groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas.”
As well as the economic conglomerate, the UK is also imposing sanctions on provincial commanders for their roles “overseeing human right violations against protesters.”
The commanders designated for sanctions is Ahmed Zulqadr, the Commander of the IRGC Seyyed al-Shohada provincial corps in Tehran province and Deputy Commander of the IRGC corps in Tehran City, and Alireza Heydarnia, Commander of the IRGC for the Alborz Province.
According to the Foreign Office, the sanctions constitute “an asset freeze and UK travel ban on the individuals concerned”, and signal the UK’s wider commitment “to backing condemnation with action.”
In December, a number of community leaders, security experts and officials called on the government to proscribe the IRGC under terrorism legislation.
The IRGC is responsible for the internal and external security of Iran, and has been at the forefront of the repression of recent protests in Iran, which has seen more than 500 killed and tens of thousands imprisoned.
