By Staff Writer
A Malaysian travel agency has been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department for its links to Iranian airline Mahan Air. The United States administration is trying to tackle the Iranian regime’s financing through a financial war that has the aim of crippling its economy. The Malaysian travel agency is now on a list of companies that the international community is now banned from doing business with.
This is no doubt a warning to other companies around the world that the United States is keeping its word with regards to those that continue to deal with Iran.
Mahan Air is a so called privately owned Iranian airline headquartered in the country’s capital. It operates flights across the Middle East, Central Asia and Europe and was Iran’s first ‘private’ airline. In 2011, the U.S. Treasury Department announced that the airline has been providing “financial, material and technological support to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF)” and was thus designated as a terrorist organisation. It has been subjected to sanctions for its violation of international laws and for transporting weapons and personnel to terrorist organisations including Hamas and the Lebanese Hezbollah.
When the negotiations for the 2015 Iran nuclear deal had commenced, pressure on the airline lessened but U.S. is tightening up again.
Although the airline is so called privately owned, it is considered to be another arm of the IRGC. Being privately owned just means that it can hide its illicit activities.
The IRGC is one of the biggest powers in Iran. It controls a large portion of the country’s economy and it owns a large number of institutions that allow it to exert even more control and carry out illegal and terrorist acts without appearing to be directly involved. Just like with Mahan Air.
Without looking at the whole picture, sanctioning a relatively small Malaysian tour operator may seem like a pointless effort. But when considering the role of such companies, it is an important and essential step that will warn other companies about their business dealings with Iran.
The main opposition to the Iranian regime, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), has been warning international companies that investing in Iranian companies and doing business with them is a risky business that almost certainly funds terrorist and other illegal activities.
The Trump administration is also very aware of this and it is taking the steps to ensure that companies and individuals that choose to ignore this warning are sanctioned.
Cutting the regime off from funding that it needs is a major step in bringing an end to the clerical rule that has been suffocating the population for decades. It is bringing misery to the people at home just as much as it is bringing misery to other areas in the region where it is meddling.
Although the people of Iran will undoubtedly be suffering they realise that sanctions are necessary to once and for all end the despotic leadership so that they can have a chance of enjoying freedom, democracy and human rights. At last.