UAE to Freeze Assets of 9 Iranian Individuals and Entities

The UAE plans to freeze the accounts and assets of 9 Iranian individuals and entities. Meanwhile, the national oil company of the UAE has announced that it can increase its oil production in line with US efforts to sanction Iranian oil. The official news agency of the UAE, WAM, reported on Tuesday, July 3, that the UAE Securities and Commodities Authority has instructed companies in the country to identify and freeze the assets of 9 individuals and entities previously listed as 'terrorist' by the UAE. This organization has also requested the freezing of the assets of individuals connected to these 9 individuals and entities. According to Al Jazeera news network, the UAE had placed these individuals and entities on its terrorist list in May of this year, in a move aligned with the US, on suspicion of ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The UAE's official news agency has not published the names of these individuals and entities, but in May, the US Treasury announced sanctions against six individuals and three Iranian companies for allegedly conducting millions of dollars in financial transactions for the IRGC's Quds Force, stating it was working with the UAE to disrupt the Central Bank of Iran's access to foreign currency reserves in foreign banks. At that time, the US Treasury identified these individuals as Massoud Nikbakht, Saeed Najafpour, Hassan Khodaei, Mohammad Reza Khedmati Valdzaqard, Moghaddam Amini, and Foad Salehi, and the companies as Jahan Aras Kish, Rashid Exchange, and Mohammad Reza Khedmati and Partners Cooperative. According to the US Treasury, Massoud Nikbakht is an official of the Quds Force, Saeed Najafpour is the director of Jahan Aras Kish, a front company belonging to the IRGC, and Hassan Khodaei has collaborated with front companies of the IRGC for money transfers. Additionally, Mohammad Reza Khedmati, Moghaddam Amini, and Foad Salehi are accused of providing supportive financial and service-related assistance to the Quds Force. The Treasury stated that these individuals were pursuing their activities through the three sanctioned companies. Relations between Iran and the UAE have soured recently due to several issues, including Iran's nuclear program, unrest in Yemen, and the Syrian civil war. The UAE welcomed Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the JCPOA. The possibility of increasing UAE oil production was also reported by Al Jazeera, stating that the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company announced on Tuesday that it could increase its oil production by 'hundreds of thousands of barrels per day' if needed. A senior US State Department official stated on July 26 that countries buying Iranian oil must stop all imports from the country starting November 1 (November 13) with the resumption of US sanctions against Tehran. On July 9, Donald Trump announced that to counter the turmoil in Iran and Venezuela, the King of Saudi Arabia agreed to increase oil production, a decision that faced protests from Iran. Additionally, on July 10, in an interview with the American news network Fox News, he mentioned that the amount of oil in the global market would decrease due to upcoming sanctions against Iran and he expected OPEC to fill this gap. In response to recent US efforts to cut Iran's oil exports, the Iranian president warned the US on July 11, saying, 'If you can, do it and see the result.'