Exclusive: U.S. imposes sanctions on Turkish businessman, citing links to Iran's Quds Force - Reuters

WASHINGTON, Dec 8 (Reuters) - The Biden medication connected Thursday imposed sanctions connected salient Turkish businessman Sitki Ayan and his web of companies, accusing him of acting arsenic a facilitator for lipid income and wealth laundering connected behalf of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Ayan's companies person established planetary income contracts for Iranian oil, arranged shipments and helped launder the proceeds and obscured the root of the Iranian lipid connected behalf of Iran's Quds Force, an limb of the IRGC, the Treasury said successful a connection archetypal reported by Reuters.

"Ayan has established concern contracts to merchantability Iranian lipid worthy hundreds of millions of dollars to buyers," successful China, the United Arab Emirates and Europe, the connection says, adding that helium past funneled the proceeds backmost to the Quds Force.

Ayan's lad Bahaddin Ayan, his subordinate Kasim Oztas and 2 different Turkish citizens progressive successful his concern web are besides designated, on with 26 companies including his ASB Group of Companies, a Gibraltar-based holding institution and a vessel.

Ayan, the lad Bahaddin and Oztas were not instantly disposable for comment. Ayan's ASB Group and Turkey’s Directorate of Communications did not instantly respond to requests for comment.

The Treasury enactment freezes immoderate U.S. assets of those designated and mostly bars Americans from dealing with them. Those that prosecute successful definite transactions with those designated besides hazard sanctions.

The U.S. measures travel astatine a clip erstwhile ties betwixt the United States and Turkey are strained implicit a big of issues, including disagreement implicit Syria argumentation and Ankara's acquisition of Russian aerial defence systems.

Most recently, Washington has warned Turkey to refrain from carrying retired a subject incursion into bluish Syria aft Ankara said it was preparing a imaginable crushed penetration against the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia that it views arsenic terrorists but who marque up the bulk of U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

Washington maintains sweeping sanctions connected Iran and has looked for ways to summation unit arsenic efforts to resurrect a 2015 atomic woody with Tehran person stalled.

U.S. President Joe Biden had sought to negociate the instrumentality of Iran to the atomic woody aft erstwhile President Donald Trump pulled retired of the statement successful 2018.

The 2015 statement constricted Iran's uranium enrichment enactment to marque it harder for Tehran to make atomic arms successful instrumentality for lifting planetary sanctions. Iran denies wanting to get atomic weapons.

Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk and Daphne Psaledakis; Additional reporting by Ezgi Erkoyun; Editing by Don Durfee and Howard Goller

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