The United States Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets (OFAC) has charged Flight Travel LLC, a company based in Yerevan, Armenia, with providing services to Mahan Air, an Iranian airline that the OFAC claims “plays an integral role supporting the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF) and its proxies in Syria by transporting personnel and weapons.”

In a statement released today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury writes: “Since the onset of the Syrian civil war, Iran has routinely relied upon Iranian airlines such as Mahan Air to fly fighters and materiel to Syria to prop up the Assad regime.  Mahan Air has transported IRGC-QF operatives, weapons, equipment, and funds abroad in support of the IRGC-QF’s destabilizing regional operations.”

As a result of the designation and pursuant sanctions, all property and interests in property of Flight Travel LLC that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons are blocked and must be reported to OFAC, this according to the official U.S. statement.

The U.S. Treasury Department writes that Flight Travel LLC “acts for or on behalf of Mahan Air by serving as a Mahan Air GSA in Armenia.  (A GSA is a third party that provides services to an airline under the airline’s brand, including sales and marketing, administrative services, and financial services.)

The Department also says that Flight Travel LLC has refused to heed warnings about the risk of sanctions exposure due to its commercial support of Mahan Air.

According to Armenia’s State Registry of Legal Entities, Flight Travel LLC was founded in 2018 and is wholly owned by Bella Gevorgyan, who serves as its director. The company, registered as located in Yerevan’s Kanaker-Zeytun district, is listed as an airlines ticket seller on the website of Armenia’s State Revenue Committee.

Alongside Flight Travel LLC, the OFAC also sanctioned two Syria-based, Iran-backed militias composed of foreign nationals and Qeshm Fars Air, an Iranian airline linked to designated Iranian airline Mahan Air.