I was quite surprised to find out that the United States Department of the Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) designated one Iranian individual and four Iranian entities under the Non-Proliferation sanctions program on a day when the federal offices were closed in Washington. As many of you already know, we have been slammed with back to back blizzards here in D.C. and as a result most everything has been closed, including federal government offices.

However, further proving OFAC’s dedication to the administration of economic sanctions, General Rostam Qasemi, Fatar Engineering Institute, Imensazen Consulting Engineers Institute, Makin Institute, and the Rahab Insititute were all designated as Specially Designated Nationals (“SDN”) under the Non-Proliferation Sanctions program yesterday.

The Non-Proliferation sanctions are designed to freeze the assets of designated proliferators of weapons of mass destruction (“WMD”) and their supporters. OFAC’s actions here are especially focused upon Khatam al­-Anbiya Construction Headquarters, an arm of the IRGC that has been designated as an SDN since 2007.

Amongst the designees are Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (“IRGC”) General Rostam Qasemi, who is also the commander of Khatam al-Anbiya Construction Headquarters the engineering arm of the IRGC, which serves to help the IRGC generate income and fund its operations. That entity is also involved in the construction of streets, highways, tunnels, water conveyance projects, agricultural restoration projects, and pipelines.

In addition, The following subsidiary companies of Khatam al-Anbiya were designated:

Fater Engineering Institute
Imensazen Consultant Engineers Institute (ICEI)
Makin Institute
Rahab Institute

The U.S. has previously acted against the IRGC and the IRGC-Qods Force. On October 25, 2007, the State Department designated the IRGC, under E.O. 13382, for having engaged, or attempted to engage, in proliferation-related activities, and Treasury designated the IRGC­-Qods Force pursuant to E.O. 13224 for providing material support to the Taliban and other organizations.

Furthermore, elements of the IRGC have previously been designated under UN sanctions pursuant to UN Security Council Resolutions (UNSCRs) 1737 and 1747. All UN Member States are required to freeze the assets of entities and individuals listed in the Annexes of those resolutions, or designated by the UNSCR 1737 Committee, as well as assets of entities owned or controlled by them or by persons or entities acting on their behalf or at their direction and to prevent funds or economic resources from being made available for their benefit.

Just to clear up a point of possible confusion that the media might have or may in the future cause; these are not new Iran sanctions. They are designations made pursuant to an existing sanctions program against certain Iranian individuals and entities in Iran.

I saw on CNN this morning where the tagline read that there are new sanctions against Iran. That is incorrect. There are Iran sanctions currently in effect, which are known as the Iranian Transactions Regulations (“ITR”), however, they are not modified as a result of the designation of these persons. Indeed, these persons were not designated or punished pursuant to the ITR.

That said there is still an elevated danger to Iranians or anyone else who might have dealings with any of these designees, whether that involvement was pursuant to a specific license or not. If you are any way involved with any of these newly designated SDNs, it would be wise to contact an attorney who is experienced in dealing with OFAC and the economic sanctions programs they administer.

The author of this blog is Erich Ferrari, an attorney specializing in OFAC litigation. If you have any questions please contact him at 202-280-6370 at 202-351-6161 or ferrari@ferrari-legal.com.