The United States lifted sanctions imposed on an Iraqi airline “accused of ties to the IRGC.”

🔸 The United States on Wednesday, 14 Mordad, lifted the sanctions imposed against the Iraqi airline “Fly Baghdad.”

🔸 The company had previously been placed on the sanctions list over suspicions of having ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

🔸 According to an update on the U.S. Department of the Treasury website, the sanctions related to Fly Baghdad and two of its aircraft have been removed, but sanctions against Basheer Abd al-Qasim Al Shabani, who had previously been identified as the owner of the company, remain in place.

🔸 In January 2024, Washington sanctioned the company, its aircraft, and its owner, saying it helps the IRGC’s Quds Force and its proxy groups in Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon.

🔸 A U.S. Treasury Department official, who asked not to be named, told Agence France-Presse that the company had been taken off the sanctions list after completing an administrative review process.

🔸 The official added: “Fly Baghdad has made major changes in the way it operates, in such a way that there is no longer any reason for it to remain on the list.”

🔸 The official also emphasized that removing the company “in no way indicates a change in U.S. policy toward the Iranian government, the Quds Force of the IRGC, any designated terrorist organization, or the individuals who support them or act on their behalf.”

🔸 Since the start of the U.S.-Israel war against Iran on 9 Esfand last year, Washington has sought to weaken Iran’s economy through military attacks and sanctions, and has also targeted some of its senior leaders.

🔸 In response, Tehran has blocked the Strait of Hormuz, which carries about one-fifth of the world’s energy supply, and has targeted U.S. allies in the region.

🔸 Negotiations to end the war have proceeded intermittently and then stalled, and the status of Iran’s nuclear program and the likelihood of imposing a transit fee on the strait are among the most important points of disagreement in these talks.