US targets Iranian organisations linked with funding Hamas in fresh rounds of sanctions

The US has issued a fresh round of sanctions on entities linked to Hamas to cut off its funding. US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said in a statement that the new sanctions “highlight Iran’s role in providing financial, logistical and operational support to Hamas” and include a Hamas representative in Iran and members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard. “Today’s action underscores the United States’ commitment to dismantling Hamas’s funding networks by deploying our counterterrorism sanctions authorities and working with our global partners to deny Hamas the ability to exploit the international financial system,” the department said. Among those who have been hit with the new sanctions include Khaled Qaddoumi, described as a liaison between Hamas and the Iranian government; and Ali Morshed Shirazi and Mostafa Mohammad Khani. Apart from this, some officials of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force have also been accused of training Hamas terrorists. The organisation that has been targeted by the US includes the Iranian Bonyad Shahid, also known as the Martyrs Foundation. Earlier this week, the US joined Gulf nations including Saudi Arabia and Qatar to target a “secret” Hamas portfolio that is believed to be valued at least hundreds of millions of dollars. US officials have stepped up efforts to pinpoint the Hamas portfolio along with Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nations.