Gulf states blacklist terror financiers linked to Iran, Islamic State, Syrian regime
Lead figures in the Assad regime’s Qatirji oil-smuggling network were among those sanctioned.
Members of the Riyadh-based Terrorist Financing Targeting Center (TFTC), which includes the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman, blacklisted 13 individuals and three organizations for financing terrorism on Monday.
Among them were Hossam and Muhammad al-Qatarji, lead members of the Syrian regime’s oil trade network with the Islamic State (IS) who were previously sanctioned by the United States in 2018.
Other targets included:
- Three men — Ali Qasir, Meghdad Amini and Morteza Hashemi — accused of helping Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force and Hezbollah move and launder tens of millions of dollars, including via institutions in the UAE, and establish IRGC front companies in China.
- Bahrain-based Shia militant groups Saraya al-Mukhtar and Saraya al-Ashtar (also known as al-Ashtar Brigades) that received IRGC training and explosives and plotted attacks against Bahraini and US officials. Both are US-designated terrorist groups.
- Six members of a Boko Haram financing cell convicted in the United Arab Emirates in 2019.
- Two additional IS financiers: Ismatullah Khalozai, accused of aiding the group’s branch in Afghanistan from Turkey, and Alaa Khanfurah, who facilitated financial transfers between IS leaders in Syria via his Turkey-based money service business.
Why it matters: Washington has long pressed GCC states to crack down on terror funding networks that use their institutions, with mixed success.
