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US Announces Sanctions Against Malaysian Sales Agent

by VOA News

   The U.S. Treasury Department announced Monday that it would sanction
   Mahan Travel and Tourism Sdn Bhd, a Malaysian sales agent for Iranian
   airline Mahan Air.
   In 2011, under the administration of then-president Barack Obama, the
   department sanctioned the airline, claiming it had provided travel
   services to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force -- a
   group that had been designated a terrorist supporter in 2007 for
   providing support to the Taliban.
   As part of the 2011 sanctions, the airline was forbidden from financial
   and commercial activity with the U.S., and its assets within the
   country were frozen.
   "The United States government has been very clear about the deadly role
   played by Mahan Air," U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a
   statement. "Our action '¦ makes it clear to all in the aviation
   industry that they urgently need to sever all ties and distance
   themselves immediately from this airline."
   According to the statement, as a result of Monday's sanctions, the
   sales agent's properties inside or coming within U.S. jurisdiction are
   blocked.
   In February, The Wall Street Journal reported that Mahan Air had
   purchased airplane parts such as engines from U.S. manufacturers
   through the use of Turkish shell companies, circumventing the
   sanctions.