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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The US Treasury has imposed sanctions on a multibillion-dollar financial network that supports an Iranian paramilitary force that recruits and trains child soldiers for the Revolutionary Guards, an elite of the country.
The announcement comes two weeks before the Trump administration re-imposes some of the toughest sanctions imposed by the United States on Iran, including its oil sector.
The Bonyad Taavon Basij network provides financial infrastructure to the Basij Resistance Force, a paramilitary force that works for Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), the Treasury said in a statement.
Both Basij groups were targeted by the new sanctions.
"This vast network provides a financial infrastructure for Basij's efforts to recruit, train and indoctrinate child soldiers who are forced into combat under the direction of the IRGC," said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
Basij is implicated in violent repression and serious human rights violations in Iran, the statement said. He recruits and trains fighters for the IRGC-Quds Force, including Iranian children as young as 12, who then deployed to Syria to support the government of President Bashar al-Assad's regime, the paper said.
The designations emphasize that "this Iranian regime is not a normal government," said a senior administration official. "Normal governments do not have revolutionary armies that support the revolution and wreak havoc on their neighbors. They do not recruit indoctrinate and do not use child soldiers.
The sanctions were imposed on Bank Mellat, Mehr Eqtesad Bank, Mehr Eqtesad Iranian Investment Co and five other investment firms, Treasury announced.
The sanctions also target Iran Tractor Manufacturing Co, the largest tractor manufacturer in the Middle East, and Mobarakeh Steel Co of Espahan, the largest steelmaker in the Middle East and North Africa, the Treasury said.
Report by Lesley Wroughton and David Alexander; Written by Doina Chiacu; Edited by James Dalgleish and Jonathan Oatis
