US sanctions Fly Baghdad, an Iraqi budget airline, saying it aided Iranian-linked groups

The US Treasury said on Monday that it would sanction an Iraqi budget airline, Fly Baghdad, for ferrying weapons, cash and fighters on behalf of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and allied armed groups. The Iranian military force and the other armed groups, which include Iraq’s Kataib Hezbollah and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, have been designated as foreign terrorist organizations by the US Treasury. In a statement, the US Treasury said that Fly Baghdad, in addition to its commercial flights, also ran a regional transport service on behalf of the IRGC and allied groups in Syria and Lebanon ferrying weapons, including machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and several kinds of missiles. It also provided fighters with transportation from Iraq to Syria and Lebanon, and recently transported Iraqi militants from Iranian-linked groups to fight against Israel in unspecified locations, the U.S. Treasury said. “Iran and its proxies have sought to abuse regional economies and use seemingly legitimate businesses as cover for funding and facilitating their attacks,” said Brian E. Nelson, the treasury’s under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence. Fly Baghdad strongly denied the allegations, saying in a statement that the charges were baseless and that the company had “operated for years under the direct supervision of the Iraqi government represented by the Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority and the Ministry of Transportation.” It said that flights would continue on schedule. Fly Baghdad is unrelated to Iraq’s state-run airline, Iraqi Airways, which has been in existence for more than 75 years.<br/>