US Sanctions IRGC-Affiliated Individuals, Entities for Malicious Cyber Acts

The US Treasury imposed new sanctions on the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) for their role in malicious cyber acts.

The Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned ten individuals and two entities for their roles in conducting malicious cyber acts, including ransomware activity.

The Treasury said, in a statement, that the individuals and entities designated are all affiliated with the IRGC.

Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said the ransomware actors and other cybercriminals, regardless of their national origin or base of operations, have targeted businesses and critical infrastructure across the board, directly threatening the physical security and economy of the United States and other nations.

"We will continue to take coordination action with our global partners to combat and deter ransomware threats, including those associated with the IRGC," said Nelson.

This is the second set of sanctions imposed by the US Treasury within a week after it sanctioned Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) and its Minister of Intelligence, Esmail Khatib, based on accusations in connection with a cyber-attack in July on Albania.

Meanwhile, the Special Envoy for Iran, Rob Malley, briefed Congress about the status of the nuclear negotiations.

The session was closed to the public, so committee members could not express their dissatisfaction, but several expressed their anger over Malley's performance.

Since his appointment by US President Joe Biden, the envoy faced severe criticism from several lawmakers.

Recent media leaks showed increased frustration with Malley, and an Israeli official claimed the envoy now has a limited role in the negotiations, and the US decision to return to the agreement is out of his control.

The administration was quick to deny this information, asserting that Malley is the special envoy for Iran and still very much in charge of the team and the US' efforts.

State Department spokesperson Ned Price asserted there is nothing to those reports.

"I can tell you Rob is deeply engaged day to day on the substance of this. He is leading a team here at the department," said Price.

The spokesman asserted that Malley is regularly engaging with counterparts at the White House, the Treasury Department, the Intelligence Community, and elsewhere regarding the efforts to achieve a joint return to compliance with the deal and Washington's contingency planning.

The administration may have a stern defense to back its envoy, but it does not mitigate the implications of the Israeli media leaks.

Congressional sources confirmed to Asharq Al-Awsat that Israeli officials are contacting prominent Senate and House of Representatives members to coordinate their rejection to return to the nuclear agreement.

The Israeli Mossad head, David Barnea, was forced, during his recent visit to Washington, to cancel his testimony before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence to evade any crisis with the White House, according to a committee source.

The sources stated that some officials did not support Malley's appointment when the US first launched its efforts to return to the agreement, and events proved their position was correct.

The Foreign Affairs Committee presented a draft resolution criticizing the administration on the same day of Malley's testimony. This proves the growing opposition to the envoy and the administration's approach to dealing with the negotiations.

The proposed draft calls on the US President to hand over to Congress any documents related to the negotiations and inform it of any initiative or negotiations regarding Iran's nuclear program.

According to the text of the proposed resolution, "the President is requested to transmit to the House of Representatives not later than 14 days after the date of the adoption of this resolution, copies of any document, memorandum, or other communication in his possession, or any portion thereof, that refers or relates to any initiative or negotiations regarding Iran's nuclear program."

The draft resolution reflects the dissatisfaction of bipartisan members of Congress with the lack of any coordination with them in this file and their fear that Biden will seek to bypass them if an agreement is reached, as former President Barak Obama did.

Discussion in the West about arming Ukraine with nuclear weapons is "absolutely irresponsible", Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday, in response to a report in the New York Times citing unidentified officials who suggested such a possibility.

The New York Times reported last week that some unidentified Western officials had suggested US President Joe Biden could give Ukraine nuclear weapons before he leaves office.

"Several officials even suggested that Mr. Biden could return nuclear weapons to Ukraine that were taken from it after the fall of the Soviet Union. That would be an instant and enormous deterrent. But such a step would be complicated and have serious implications," the newspaper wrote.

Asked about the report, Peskov told reporters: "These are absolutely irresponsible arguments of people who have a poor understanding of reality and who do not feel a shred of responsibility when making such statements. We also note that all of these statements are anonymous."

Earlier, senior Russian security official Dmitry Medvedev said that if the West supplied nuclear weapons to Ukraine then Moscow could consider such a transfer to be tantamount to an attack on Russia, providing grounds for a nuclear response.

Ukraine inherited nuclear weapons from the Soviet Union after its 1991 collapse, but gave them up under a 1994 agreement, the Budapest Memorandum, in return for security assurances from Russia, the United States and Britain.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said last month that as Ukraine had handed over the nuclear weapons, joining NATO was the only way it could deter Russia.

The 33-month Russia-Ukraine war saw escalations on both sides last week, after Ukraine fired US and British missiles into Russia for the first time, with permission from the West, and Moscow responded by launching a new hypersonic intermediate-range missile into Ukraine.

Asked about the risk of a nuclear escalation, Peskov said the West should "listen carefully" to Putin and read Russia's newly updated nuclear doctrine, which lowered the threshold for using nuclear weapons.

Separately, Russian foreign intelligence chief Sergei Naryshkin said Moscow opposes simply freezing the conflict in Ukraine because it needs a "solid and long-term peace" that resolves the core reasons for the crisis.

US Sanctions IRGC-Affiliated Individuals, Entities for Malicious Cyber Acts