WASHINGTON (CNN) — U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on Thursday announced new economic sanctions against Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its Quds Force.
The Revolutionary Guard Corps is being designated by the United States as a proliferator of weapons of mass destruction and the Quds force as a supporter of terrorism.
The sanctions mean that no "U.S. citizen or private organization will be allowed to engage in financial transactions with these persons and entities," Rice said. "In addition, any assets that these designees have under U.S. jurisdiction will be immediately frozen."
The United States also designated three Iranian state-owned banks for sanctions, two of them "for their involvement in proliferation activities" and the other "as a terrorist financier," Rice said.
"Iran funnels hundreds of millions of dollars each year through the international financial system to terrorists," Paulson said. "Iran’s banks aid this conduct using a range of deceptive financial practices intended to evade even the most stringent risk management controls."
"The Iranian government continues to spurn our offer of open negotiations, instead threatening peace and security by pursuing nuclear technologies that can lead to a nuclear weapon; building dangerous ballistic missiles; supporting Shia militants in Iraq and terrorists in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories; and denying the existence of a fellow member of the United Nations, threatening to wipe Israel off the map," Rice said.
The Quds Force is blamed by the U.S. military for training and arming Shiite militias in Iraq and smuggling highly lethal explosives into Iraq, where they are used to attack coalition forces. Iran denies the charge.
Previous sanctions imposed by the United States have been tied to Iran’s nuclear program. The United States believes Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapon, a claim that the Islamic republic denies, saying its program is for peaceful purposes only.
Last month, representatives of world powers announced that unless a November report shows a "positive outcome" of talks with Iran about its uranium enrichment program, they will move ahead with plans for a resolution imposing additional sanctions on the country.
The announcement came out of a meeting of what the participants termed the "P5 plus two." The meeting included Rice and the foreign ministers of the other four permanent members of the U.N. Security Council — Britain, China, France and Russia — along with the foreign minister of Germany and Javier Solana, the European Union foreign policy chief who has held nuclear talks with Iran.
The Security Council has repeatedly demanded that Iran suspend enrichment of uranium and has imposed limited sanctions on Tehran for refusing to comply. The United States has been trying to cut Iran off from the international financial system and the European Union is weighing its own unilateral sanctions.
CNN’s Kathleen Koch and Elise Labott contributed to this report.
