President Joe Biden’s administration blacklisted a trio of Iranian military officials accused of “financing and training Hamas,” the terrorist group that launched an Oct. 7 attack on Israel that ignited a war in Gaza.
"Today, the United States is imposing sanctions on eight key individuals for supporting Hamas, as well as Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) officials involved in financing and training Hamas," Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday. "A number of the individuals and entities designated today have played key roles in facilitating sanctions evasion by Hamas-affiliated companies."
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Those sanctions appeared one day after U.S. forces targeted Iranian positions in Syria, where Iranian forces have operated since intervening in the Syrian civil war a decade ago, in response to a series of Iran-backed attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria. The subsequent imposition of sanctions broadens that effort in a way that points to the strain on U.S. efforts to prevent Israel’s war with Hamas from expanding into a direct crisis with Iran and its proxies around the Middle East.
“The strategy of trying to separate Iran and its complicity in the October 7 massacre ... appears to have come to an end, at least from a strategic communications point of view,” said Foundation for Defense of Democracy senior adviser Richard Goldberg, who directed White House National Security Council efforts to counter Iran’s nuclear weapons program in 2019 and 2020. “They have given Treasury the green light to start working through all the known targets that have been out there for a long time.”
Iran’s patronage of Hamas has been undisputed throughout the conflict, but U.S. officials have taken a cautious approach to blaming Tehran for the specific planning and execution of the Oct. 7 atrocities. Pentagon officials took a different approach after 10 days of attacks on U.S. forces in neighboring countries.
"Let's be clear. Iran is responsible," a senior defense official said. "I want to emphasize that the United States does not seek conflict, nor do we desire further hostilities. However, the Iran-backed attacks against U.S. forces are unacceptable and must cease. We are prepared to take further measures to protect our people if necessary."
Biden faces congressional Republican pressure to take a more pronounced approach to cracking down on Iran, as the U.S. efforts to jump-start the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which Democratic proponents believe can defuse a nuclear crisis but Republican critics regard as empowering Iranian-backed terrorism in exchange for inadequate nuclear restrictions, remain stalled.
“The horrific Hamas attacks against Israel along with the recent Iranian-backed attacks against U.S. troops serve as just the latest signals that a total reevaluation of this administration’s Iran policy is gravely overdue,” Sen. James Risch (R-ID), the top Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, said Friday. “I have long advocated for an Iran policy that encompasses all elements of national power instead of failed policies like unfreezing Iranian funds and playing party to endless nuclear ‘negotiations.’ The Iranian regime has made it clear that it does not want peace — it wants to sow chaos and degrade the United States and our allies.”
The sanctions unveiled on Friday target two Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps officials based in Lebanon and a third IRGC member in Iran. A senior Hamas official based in Tehran also appeared on the list, as well as three other people linked to Hamas who are based in Istanbul, the ancient jewel of Turkey, a NATO ally whose president is sympathetic to Hamas.
“Turkey today is like Casablanca during World War Two,” American Enterprise Institute senior fellow Michael Rubin said. “We've got to start calibrating policy to reality, rather than a diplomatic nicety. And for too long, we've been too willing to ignore major problems among our allies.”
Blinken implied that this recalibration may be underway. “The United States is committed to dismantling networks that support funding for Hamas and countering Iran’s support for terrorism in the region and around the world,” he said. “We will continue to work with our partners to deny Hamas access to the international financial system as part of our broader effort to prevent and deter its terrorist activity.”
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That message appears designed to attract attention in government offices far afield from Tehran, according to Goldberg, despite the nettlesome policy choices that arise from having allies who support the Palestinian terrorists.
“They are trying to figure out what is their strategy, and what is their plan, and [trying] to buy that time for what the actual policy of countering Hamas looks like with key allies that are involved,” Goldberg said. “In their own view, they are sending a signal of policy changes are coming.”