Washington imposes sanctions on Armenian company defending Iran’s interests

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) took action against two Syria-based, Iran-backed militias composed of foreign nationals, an Iranian airline linked to designated Iranian airline Mahan Air and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF), and an Armenian general sales agent (GSA) providing services to Mahan Air, the statement of the OFAC released on January 24 says.

“Iran continues to leverage Mahan Air and its commercial aviation sector to transport individuals and weapons needed to fuel sectarian conflict throughout the region.  We are aggressively targeting those who continue to provide commercial support to Mahan Air and other designated airlines, and any who fail to heed our warnings expose themselves to severe sanctions risk,” the statement runs.

“Flight Travel LLC, located in Yerevan, Armenia is being designated pursuant to Executive Order 13224 for acting for or on behalf of Mahan Air by serving as a Mahan Air GSA in Armenia.  A GSA is a third party that provides services to an airline under the airline’s brand, including sales and marketing, administrative services, and financial services,” the statement says, adding that Flight Travel LLC has refused to heed warnings about the risk of sanctions exposure due to commercial support to Mahan Air, and it is now the third company sanctioned by Treasury for acting for or on behalf of Mahan Air as a GSA in the last seven months.

OFAC stated that as a result of the action, all property and interests in property of these entities that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons are blocked and must be reported to OFAC.