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US treasury imposes sanctions on Iran's Mahan Air US treasury imposes sanctions on Iran's Mahan Air
(40 minutes later)
The US has imposed sanctions on an Iranian airline it says flew members of an elite force linked to an alleged plot to kill the Saudi envoy to the US.The US has imposed sanctions on an Iranian airline it says flew members of an elite force linked to an alleged plot to kill the Saudi envoy to the US.
The US Treasury says Mahan Air ferried operatives from Iran's Quds Force and Hezbollah across the Middle East.The US Treasury says Mahan Air ferried operatives from Iran's Quds Force and Hezbollah across the Middle East.
Under the sanctions, the airline's US assets will be frozen and US firms barred from doing business with it.Under the sanctions, the airline's US assets will be frozen and US firms barred from doing business with it.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton meanwhile said the alleged plot was a "dangerous escalation" by Iran.Secretary of State Hillary Clinton meanwhile said the alleged plot was a "dangerous escalation" by Iran.
The sanctions were unveiled a day after the US announced it had foiled a conspiracy to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to Washington. The sanctions on Mahan Air are the most noticeable step the US has taken following its announcement of an Iranian plot to carry out a bomb attack in Washington DC.
The US government accused members of the Iranian government - and the Quds Force - of involvement in the alleged plot. Iran insists that the charges are part of an American propaganda campaign. To many observers, the details of the proposed attack by a branch of Iran's Revolutionary Guard remain fairly puzzling.
It is not immediately clear why the force would choose Manssor Arbabsiar, a man with a criminal record, as the principal agent of its first ever attack inside the US.
Nor is it clear why Iran would want to approach a Mexican drugs cartel to plant the bomb - when cartels deliberately avoid hitting targets inside the US.
It may be that the Revolutionary Guard is more reckless in the planning of its operations than previously thought.
The sanctions were unveiled a day after the authorities announced they had foiled a conspiracy to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to Washington on US soil using explosives.
The US government accused members of the Iranian government - and the Quds Force, an elite unit of the Revolutionary Guard Corps - of involvement.
On Tuesday, US also imposed sanctions against five people it linked to the alleged assassination plot, including two men charged over the investigation.
The two accused were named as Manssor Arbabsiar, a 56-year-old naturalised US citizen with dual Iranian and US passports, and Gholam Shakuri, who is based in Iran.
Mr Shakuri and three others named in Tuesday's sanctions were described as members of the Quds Force.
Mr Arbabsiar - accused of wiring $100,000 (£63,000) to a US bank account to finance the alleged conspiracy - was charged in a New York City court on Tuesday.
Announcing the latest sanctions on Wednesday, Treasury sanctions official David Cohen said in a statement: "Mahan Air's close co-ordination with the IRGC-QF [Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp-Quds Force] - secretly ferrying operatives, weapons and funds on its flights - reveals yet another facet of the IRGC's extensive infiltration of Iran's commercial sector to facilitate its support for terrorism.
"Following the revelation about the IRGC-QF's use of the international financial system to fund its murder-for-hire plot, today's action highlights further the undeniable risks of doing business with Iran."
US Vice-President Joe Biden told the ABC News network on Wednesday: "We're in the process of uniting world public opinion continuing to isolate and condemn their [Iran's] behaviour."
"Nothing has been taken off the table," he added.
The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) later reportedly condemned the alleged plot as a "flagrant violation" of international laws and agreements.
Secretary general Abdulattif al-Zayani said it was "severely harmful to relations between GCC member states and Iran", according to the Saudi state news agency.
Meanwhile, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told a mass rally that the Occupy Wall Street protests in the US would topple the American capitalist system.