US Treasury announces new sanctions targeting Houthi funding networks World

[Deeq A.]

The US has imposed fresh sanctions on alleged Houthi front companies in Yemen, Oman and the UAE, as part of efforts to disrupt the group’s funding.

US Treasury says new sanctions aim to choke off Houthi revenue streams linked to Red Sea attacks, targeting oil transfers, weapons and dual-use equipment. [Getty]

The United States has issued fresh sanctions targeting Yemen’s Houthi group, focusing on oil transfers, weapons and so-called dual-use equipment used to fund the group, the Treasury Department announced on Friday.

In a statement, the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control confirmed that 21 individuals and entities were targeted by the new sanctions, which it said were intended to disrupt revenue-generation and smuggling networks.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the Iran-backed organisation “threaten the United States by committing acts of terror and attacking commercial vessels transiting the Red Sea.”

The department added that the latest measures build on earlier Treasury action aimed at pressuring the group’s “vast revenue generation and smuggling networks, which enable the group to sustain its capability to conduct destabilizing regional activities”, including attacks in the Red Sea.

Seeking to sever what it described as financial links between Iran and the Houthis, the US Treasury said the Yemen-based group’s operations extend across Yemen, Oman and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

“Treasury will use all tools at its disposal to expose the networks and individuals enabling Houthi terrorism,” Bessent added.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) claimed the Houthis generate more than $2 billion a year through oil sales, including shipments sold or supplied by Iran via companies based in the UAE.

Several oil firms and financial facilitators in Dubai were named, alongside Yemeni business figures accused of inflating fuel prices for civilians to help fund Houthi military operations.

Those named in the sanctions include Al Sharafi Oil Companies Services and Adeema Oil FZC, owned by Waleed Fathi Salam Baidhani, as well as Arkan Mars Petroleum DMCC; Alsaa Petroleum and Shipping FZC, owned by Imran Asghar; Janat Al Anwar General Trading LLC; Zayd ‘Ali Ahmed al-Sharafi; and New Ocean Trading FZE.

The sanctions also target alleged weapons smuggling networks, including logistics companies accused of attempting to transport anti-tank missiles and other military equipment into Yemen, as well as exchange houses said to have been used to finance arms purchases.

The entities linked to alleged weapons smuggling operations include Wadi Kabir Co. for Logistics Services; Rabya for Trading FZC, owned by Ameen Hamid Mohammed Dahan; and Al-Ridhwan Exchange and Transfer Company.

Aviation-related entities were also named that included Barash Aviation and Cargo Company Limited, Sama Airline and businessman Adil Mutahhar al-Muayyad- as OFAC accused the companies and al-Muayyad of seeking to acquire aircraft for smuggling and revenue-generation purposes.

Ship owners and captains were also sanctioned for allegedly delivering fuel to Houthi-controlled ports after US humanitarian exemptions had expired.

Maritime operations targeted include Albarraq Shipping Co and its director, Ebrahim Ahmed Abdullah al-Matari, the vessel ALBARRAQ Z and its captain, Ahmad Ismail, as well as captains Ahmad Adriss, Ahmad Bseis, Ranveer Singh and Alexander Yurovich Pshenichnyy.

Since the launch of Israel’s war on Gaza in 2023, the Houthis have carried out numerous attacks on vessels in the Red Sea against targets they say are linked to Tel Aviv.

Source The new Arab

 

Qaran News