Iran: US places sanctions on three Al-Qaeda officials

The US Treasury announced on Wednesday sanctions on three Iran-based senior Al-Qaeda officials allegedly involved in moving funds and weapons around the Middle East for the group. The Treasury said Faisal Jassim Mohammed al-Amri al-Khalidi, Yisra Muhammad Ibrahim Bayumi and Abu Bakr Muhammad Muhammad Ghumayn have important logistics roles in Al-Qaeda, which is officially designated by the United States and the United Nations as a global terrorist organization.

The Treasury said Khalidi, a 31-year-old Kuwait-born Saudi national, was “part of a new generation” of Qaeda operatives who in May 2015 participated in a senior leadership meeting as the military commission chief. Egyptian Bayumi, 48, is a Qaeda veteran involved recently in raising and deploying funds for the group.

Ghumayn, a 35-year-old Algerian, took control of the financing and organization of Iran-based Qaeda members last year. The sanctions seize any assets located in US jurisdictions of those named, and ban Americans and US-based companies from doing business with them -- effectively closing off their access to much of the global financial system.

“Treasury remains committed to targeting Al-Qaeda’s terrorist activity and denying Al-Qaeda and its critical support networks access to the international financial system,” Adam Szubin, acting under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in a statement.