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US Slaps New Sanctions on IRGC, Hamas

Officers in the Revolutionary Guard chant slogans during a previous meeting with the Iranian leader. (Khamenei’s website)
Officers in the Revolutionary Guard chant slogans during a previous meeting with the Iranian leader. (Khamenei’s website)
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US Slaps New Sanctions on IRGC, Hamas

Officers in the Revolutionary Guard chant slogans during a previous meeting with the Iranian leader. (Khamenei’s website)
Officers in the Revolutionary Guard chant slogans during a previous meeting with the Iranian leader. (Khamenei’s website)

The US on Friday issued a second round of sanctions aimed at officials from Hamas and Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, after 20 days of launching the Al-Aqsa Storm operation from the Gaza Strip against Israel.

The measures target additional assets in a Hamas investment portfolio and people facilitating sanctions evasion by Hamas-affiliated companies, the US Treasury Department said in a statement.

A Gaza-based entity that Treasury said has served as a conduit for illicit Iranian funds to Hamas and the Palestinian Jihad group was also targeted, the department said. Iran backs Hamas and PIJ.

"We will not hesitate to take action to further degrade Hamas’s ability to commit horrific terrorist attacks by relentlessly targeting its financial activities and streams of funding," Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo wrote, adding the sanctions aimed "to deny Hamas the ability to exploit the international financial system."

Adeyemo said some firms in the digital asset space were not doing enough to stop the flow of illicit finance.

Israel has bombarded the densely populated Gaza Strip following the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas that Israel says killed some 1,400 people. The group took more than 200 hostages, some of them infants, in the assault.

The Gaza health ministry said on Thursday that at least 7,326 Palestinians including 3,038 children had been killed in Israel's retaliatory air strikes.

Friday's action freezes any US assets of the targeted groups and generally bars Americans from dealing with them, according to Reuters. Those who engage in certain transactions with them also risk being hit with sanctions.

The Treasury said it imposed sanctions on a Jordanian national who lives in the Iranian capital, Tehran, and who it said serves as the representative of Hamas in Iran, as well as IRGC Qods Force (IRGC-QF) officials who train and assist members of Hamas and other armed groups.

An Iran-based commander of the Saberin Special Forces Brigade of the IRGC Ground Force was also targeted. The US Treasury said the Saberin Brigade has deployed to Syria and has provided training to Hamas and members of the Lebanon-based Hezbollah.

Sudan and Spain-based companies were also targeted under Friday's measures, as were Türkiye -based shareholders of a company previously designated as part of the Hamas investment portfolio.

The United States has said that the Hamas portfolio of investments, estimated to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars, includes companies operating in Türkiye, as well as Sudan, Algeria, the United Arab Emirates, and elsewhere.

This month's violence has led to fears of a broader conflict in the Middle East.

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US, EU Call for Probe after Reports of Georgia Election Violations

Members of an election commission count ballots at a polling station after the parliamentary election in Tbilisi, Georgia, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Kostya Manenkov)
Members of an election commission count ballots at a polling station after the parliamentary election in Tbilisi, Georgia, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Kostya Manenkov)
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US, EU Call for Probe after Reports of Georgia Election Violations

Members of an election commission count ballots at a polling station after the parliamentary election in Tbilisi, Georgia, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Kostya Manenkov)
Members of an election commission count ballots at a polling station after the parliamentary election in Tbilisi, Georgia, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Kostya Manenkov)

Georgia's president called for protests on Monday following a disputed parliamentary election, and the United States and the European Union urged a full investigation into reports of violations in the voting.
The results, with almost all precincts counted, were a blow for pro-Western Georgians who had cast Saturday's election as a choice between a ruling party that has deepened ties with Russia and an opposition aiming to fast-track integration with Europe, said Reuters.
Monitors from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) said on Sunday they had registered incidents of vote-buying, voter intimidation, and ballot-stuffing that could have affected the outcome, but they stopped short of saying the election was rigged.
President Salome Zourabichvili urged people to take to the streets to protest against the results of the ballot, which the electoral commission said the ruling party had won.
In an address on Sunday, she referred to the result as a "Russian special operation". She did not clarify what she meant by the term.
The ruling Georgian Dream party, of which Zourabichvili is a fierce critic, clinched nearly 54% of the vote, the commission said, as opposition parties contested the outcome and vote monitors reported significant violations.
Georgian media cited Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze as saying on Monday that the opposition was attempting to topple the "constitutional order" and that his government remained committed to European integration.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States joined calls from observers for a full probe.
"Going forward, we encourage Georgia's political leaders to respect the rule of law, repeal legislation that undermines fundamental freedoms, and address deficiencies in the electoral process together," Blinken said in a statement.
Earlier, the European Union urged Georgia to swiftly and transparently investigate the alleged irregularities in the vote.
"The EU recalls that any legislation that undermines the fundamental rights and freedoms of Georgian citizens and runs counter to the values and principles upon which the EU is founded, must be repealed," the European Commission said in a joint statement with EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.
President Zourabichvili, a former Georgian Dream ally who won the 2018 presidential vote as an independent, urged Georgians to protest in the center of the capital Tbilisi on Monday evening, to show the world "that we do not recognize these elections".
For years, Georgia was one of the most pro-Western countries to emerge from the Soviet Union, with polls showing many Georgians disliking Russia for its support of two breakaway regions of their country.
Russia defeated Georgia in their brief war over the rebel province of South Ossetia in 2008.
The election result poses a challenge to the EU's ambition to expand by bringing in more former Soviet states.
Moldova earlier this month narrowly approved adding a clause to the constitution defining EU accession as a goal. Moldovan officials said Russia meddled in the election, a claim denied by Moscow.