Washington: The United States has announced sanctions targeting the cyber wing of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. The US Treasury Department said in a statement that sanctions were imposed on six officers of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Cyber Electronic Command and a network of suppliers based in Iran and Hong Kong that provide materials for Iran’s ballistic missile and drone systems.
The announcement of sanctions came after airstrikes on 80 centers in Iraq and Syria. In addition, the US said it had seized $108 million from a Turkish-based oil company it accused of funding the Revolutionary Guard’s elite Quds Force.
The action against Iran’s cyber wing is accused of leading several critical cyber attacks, including in Israel. The U.S. Treasury Department said Cyber Electronic Command hacked Israeli company Unitronics’ programmable logic controller and carried out cyber attacks on infrastructure including water supplies.
U.S. Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson said Iran’s cyber attack targeting critical infrastructure was an unconscionably dangerous act. America will not tolerate such acts. “We will use all our means to stop the criminals,” Brian said.
Hamid Reza Lashgarian, Mahdi Lashgarian, Hamid Humayun Fal, Milad Mansoori, Mohammad Baghar, and Reza Mohammad Amin Saberian, the Quds Force commander and head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Cyber Electronic Command, were involved in the blockade.