Zarif: New US Sanctions Against Iran Aim to Divert Attention from Khashoggi News

One day after the US sanctioned two Quds Force officers for their connections with the Taliban, Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran's Foreign Minister, described this action as an attempt to divert attention from the news surrounding the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. On Wednesday evening, November 2, Zarif tweeted: "The US Treasury Department - while its Secretary is in Saudi Arabia - sanctions Iran for 'supporting' the anti-Iran Taliban to divert attention from the Saudi's brutality in Istanbul and Yemen." On Tuesday, the US Treasury Department accused eight individuals, including four Afghans, two Pakistanis, and two Iranians, of having ties to the Taliban and imposed sanctions on them. The Treasury's statement named two Iranian citizens, Mohammad Ibrahim Ohadi (also known as Jalal Vahedi) and Ismail Rezavi, linking them to the Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guard. According to the report, Jalal Vahedi met last year in Birjand with a Taliban commander named Abdullah Samad Farooqi, promising him financial and military assistance. The US Treasury stated that following this agreement, training for Taliban militants began near Birjand, and both parties have adhered to their agreement so far. The statement also noted that Ismail Rezavi, who is responsible for one of the Quds Force training centers in Birjand, encouraged the Taliban to attack border areas and conduct suicide operations at a construction site of a dam during a trip to Farah province in western Afghanistan last year. The news of these sanctions coincided with the visit of Steve Mnuchin, the US Treasury Secretary, to Saudi Arabia to participate in a meeting of the member countries of the 'Terrorist Financing Targeting Center,' which includes the US, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE, Kuwait, Oman, and Qatar. According to the Treasury's statement, this is the third joint sanction against 'terrorist financing sources' since the center was established in May 2017. However, Mohammad Javad Zarif noted in his tweet that 'the US negotiations with the same Taliban' and 'its affiliates' support for the Taliban are easily overlooked. Despite the insistence of Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani to negotiate with the Taliban, the US has not held formal talks with the group. After a period of silence from Iranian officials regarding the Khashoggi murder at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul during the first three weeks, their stance on the matter has increased in recent days. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani described Khashoggi's murder as a 'crime' and urged the Turkish government to continue its investigations 'thoroughly and impartially.' Zarif's remarks were made shortly after Mohammad Saleh Jokar, a parliamentary deputy of the Revolutionary Guard, implicitly criticized the Rouhani administration's Foreign Ministry for not taking full advantage of the opportunity presented by the Khashoggi case. Ismail Qotari, a senior commander of the Revolutionary Guard, also accused the Saudi government of 'diverting public opinion from the Khashoggi murder.' The US Treasury's statement on Tuesday referred to 'Iran's educational, financial, and military assistance to the Taliban' as 'another example of Iran's blatant interference in the region and its support for terrorism.'