The United Kingdom followed the United States in taking action against Iran on Thursday, imposing sanctions on seven individuals, including the head of Iran's Quds Force.
In addition to Esmail Qaani, head of the Quds Force, the arm of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards Corps or IRGC – which controls its allied militia across Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen and Syria – the U.K. placed sanctions on six other people linked to the IRGC-QF Palestine branch, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
The U.S. had previously put sanctions on the seven individuals facing action from the U.K. and sanctioned one more person, Majid Zaree, for actions in support of Hezbollah and Hamas.
The individuals face travel bans as well as asset freezes for their alleged involvement with Iran as well as plots to kill people on U.K. soil.
"The behavior of the Iranian regime poses an unacceptable threat to the UK and our partners," British foreign minister David Cameron said in a statement. "It continues to threaten people on UK soil and uses its influence to destabilize the Middle East through its support to armed groups, including Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad."
"Treasury applauds the United Kingdom's new Iran sanctions authorities, which will be instrumental in taking action against Iranian support to Hamas and other regional proxy groups that fan conflict and contribute to widespread suffering," U.S. Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo said. "The United States continues to coordinate with our partners, including the United Kingdom, to tackle terrorist financing and threats from Iran."
London has accused Iran of attempting to destabilize the Middle East through its support of groups like Hezbollah in Lebanon and Houthi rebels in Yemen who recently launched missiles at vessels in the Red Sea.
However, the U.K. does not think Tehran is in support of a full-scale war in the Middle East.
"We assess Iran doesn't want a direct war. ... But Iran is comfortable with the way events have unfolded, the dilemmas for Israel, the threat posed by Lebanon's Hezbollah and Yemen's Houthis, militia groups exploiting this crisis to challenge America's role in the region," British Chief of Defense Staff Tony Radakin said in a speech on Wednesday.
Some information in this report came from Agence France Presse and Reuters.
