WASHINGTON, May 7 (Reuters) – The United States imposed sanctions on Thursday on Iraq’s deputy oil minister and militias over support for Iran, the Treasury Department said.
The Treasury Department accused Iraq’s deputy minister Ali Maarij Al-Bahadly of abusing “his position to facilitate the diversion of oil to be sold for the benefit of the Iranian regime and its proxy militias in Iraq.”
Iraq’s oil ministry and the deputy minister did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In March, Iraq’s oil minister Hayan Abdel-Ghani said Iranian oil tankers stopped by U.S. forces in the Gulf were using forged Iraqi documents. Tehran denied using such documents.
The move to sanction the deputy minister comes as the United States and Iran edged toward a temporary agreement to halt the war, with Tehran reviewing a proposal that would stop the fighting but leave the most contentious issues unresolved.
The U.S. Treasury is also sanctioning three senior leaders of Iran-aligned militias Kata’ib Sayyid Al-Shuhada and Asa’ib Ahl Al-Haq, it said.
“Treasury will not stand idly by as Iran’s military exploits Iraqi oil to fund terrorism against the United States and our partners,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.
The sanctions freeze any U.S. assets of those targeted and generally bar Americans from dealing with them.
(Reporting by Timothy Gardner,Daphne Psaledakis and Bhargav Acharya; additional reporting by Ahmed Rasheed in Baghdad; Editing by Michelle Nichols and Bill Berkrot)
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