The United States imposed sanctions on Iraqi Deputy Oil Minister Ali Maarij al-Bahadly and militias on May 7 over support for Iran, the U.S. Treasury Department said.
The Treasury Department, in a statement, accused Maarij 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.”
The move comes as part of U.S. President Donald Trump’s “Operation Economic Fury,” which aims to apply financial pressure to Iran, alongside the ongoing military action against the regime.
The department said Maarij enabled an Iran-affiliated oil smuggler to mix Iranian oil with Iraqi oil before being shipped to global markets and falsified documents on the provenance of that oil that helped Iranian-affiliated networks to sell the mix….
US Sanctions Iraqi Deputy Oil Minister Over Ties to Iran
