The US Treasury on Thursday increased its Iran-related sanctions, penalising a company with ties to Iran-backed militia groups in Iraq, and the president of Iraq's Olympic Committee.
In a statement, the Treasury Department accused the militia of helping “the Iranian regime in evading US sanctions, smuggling weapons and engaging in widespread corruption in Iraq", and of being responsible for the deaths of Americans.
“These Iran-backed groups are not only responsible for the deaths of US personnel but also conduct attacks against US interests and those of our allies across the Middle East,” the statement read.
Those sanctions included a firm it said was created by Kataib Hezbollah, a powerful Iraqi militia that has been listed as a terrorist organisation by the US.
“The militias actively undermine the Iraqi economy, monopolising resources through graft and corruption, and hinder the formation of a functioning Iraqi government that would make the region safer,” the US Treasury said.
It also unveiled sanctions against Aqeel Muftin, the president of Iraq's National Olympic Committee, accusing him of managing an Iraqi commercial bank associated with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' foreign operations arm, the Quds Force.
It said Mr Muftin and his brother Ali have “close relationships with senior intelligence officials of the IRGC and help generate and transfer funds for militias in Iraq that support the IRGC-QF".
These sanctions follow a separate round earlier on Thursday against dozens of companies, firms and ships involved in Iran's export of liquefied petroleum gas.
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Champions League quarter-final, first leg
Ajax v Juventus, Wednesday, 11pm (UAE)
Match on BeIN Sports
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An exchange traded fund is a type of investment fund that can be traded quickly and easily, just like stocks and shares. They come with no upfront costs aside from your brokerage's dealing charges and annual fees, which are far lower than on traditional mutual investment funds. Charges are as low as 0.03 per cent on one of the very cheapest (and most popular), Vanguard S&P 500 ETF, with the maximum around 0.75 per cent.
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The first ETF was launched as recently as 1993, but the sector boasted $5.78 billion in assets under management at the end of September as inflows hit record highs, according to the latest figures from ETFGI, a leading independent research and consultancy firm.
There are thousands to choose from, with the five largest providers BlackRock’s iShares, Vanguard, State Street Global Advisers, Deutsche Bank X-trackers and Invesco PowerShares.
While the best-known track major indices such as MSCI World, the S&P 500 and FTSE 100, you can also invest in specific countries or regions, large, medium or small companies, government bonds, gold, crude oil, cocoa, water, carbon, cattle, corn futures, currency shifts or even a stock market crash.
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