“Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and the United Kingdom are taking joint action against a network of individuals that targeted Iranian dissidents and opposition activists for assassination at the direction of the Iranian regime,” said the US Department of the Treasury in a statement.
“The network is led by Iranian narcotics trafficker Naji Ibrahim Sharifi-Zindashti (Zindashti) and operates at the behest of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS),” added the statement, stressing that Zindashti’s network is responsible for “numerous acts of transnational repression including assassinations and kidnappings across multiple jurisdictions in an attempt to silence the Iranian regime’s perceived critics,” as well as for plotting several operations in the US.
A number of Zindashti’s family members and associates were targeted with sanctions as well.
The department also stated that Zindashti had recruited two Canadian nationals to carry out assassinations against Iranian dissidents in the US.
“The Iranian regime’s continued efforts to target dissidents and activists demonstrate the regime’s deep insecurity and attempt to expand Iran’s domestic repression internationally,” Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Brian E. Nelson was quoted as saying in the US Treasury Department statement, which added that the US and its allies including the UK “will continue to combat the Iranian regime’s transnational repression and will utilize all available tools to stop this threat, especially on U.S. soil.”
The British government said the joint sanctions aim to “expose and disrupt Iran’s activities in the UK and overseas.”
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron was quoted in a statement by the British government as saying that “The Iranian regime and the criminal gangs who operate on its behalf pose an unacceptable threat to the UK’s security.”
Cameron stressed that “The UK and US have sent a clear message – we will not tolerate this threat.”
