US, UAE crack down on network for smuggling funds to elite Iran group

The United States imposed sanctions on Thursday against six individuals and three companies it said were funneling millions of dollars to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard's elite Quds Force, just days after President Donald Trump withdrew from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

The Treasury Department, acting with the United Arab Emirates where front companies were located, said it had disrupted the large network's operations, and accused Iran's central bank of helping the group access US dollars held in foreign banks to sidestep Western sanctions.

"The Iranian regime and its central bank have abused access to entities in the UAE to acquire US 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 US dollars were acquired," US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.