U.S, Allies Sanction Suspected Hamas Financers, Iran-Linked Actors

As the U.S. and Western allies work to shut down the primary channels Hamas uses to fund its fight in the Middle East, the Biden administration on Monday imposed a fifth round of sanctions sanctions on the terrorist group-affiliated financial exchanges in and outside of Gaza, ad well as Iraqi airline and backers of Iranian-linked militias in Iraq, accusing all of working with Iran's elite military and intelligence unit, TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.

The U.S. Treasury said in a statement that it had imposed sanctions on Hamas-linked financial networks in Gaza, particularly financial facilitators instrumental in transferring funds from IRGC Quds Force to Hamas. The sanctions were coordinated with Australia and Britain.

"The IRGC-QF and Iran-aligned militia groups pose a significant threat to the Middle East region." The State Department said in a statement.

"Sanctions are just one of the many levers at our disposal when it comes to holding Iran and some of its proxies accountable," State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel told a news briefing.

U.S. Treasury's Brian Nelson said in a separate statement that Hamas used cryptocurrency as one of "a variety of financial transfer mechanisms" for support.

The statement cited Israel's National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing freezing 189 crypto addresses associated with three exchanges, one of which is Al-Markaziya Li-Siarafa, a company based in Gaza and Turkiye owned by Zuhair Shamlakh, an individual whose companies provide support for Hamas using crypto and fiat.

Herzallah Exchange and General Trading Company LLC also facilitated crypto and other transactions for Hamas, the press release said.

In sanctioning these and other targets, Washington is trying to crack down on a host of Iranian-backed proxies that have used Gaza, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen to carry out attacks on Israeli, U.S. and other interests.