Iranian General Accused of Helping to Kill Americans to Receive Sanctions Relief in Nuclear Accord
— -- There will be significant sanctions relief for the leader of the Quds force, a special unit of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard accused of supplying militants with weapons to kill Americans during the Iraq war, under the new Iran nuclear deal.
Gen. Qasem Soleimani will have his travel ban lifted and foreign assets unfrozen -- sanctions imposed by the UN -- if the deal goes as planned.
It was not immediately clear where he would be allowed to travel or which assets would be unfrozen under the deal.
The accord reached today says that all United Nations Security Council resolutions against Iran will have to be lifted as part of the sanctions relief package.
A senior State Department official, who spoke to ABC News on the condition of anonymity, said the terms for Soleimani and the broader relief package agreed upon in November 2013 ultimately brought the Iranians to the negotiating table.
The official also pointed out that Soleimani won’t receive the sanctions relief for another eight years and that all existing U.S. sanctions on Soleimani will stay in place.
In 2011, the Treasury Department prohibited anyone in the U.S. from doing business with him as a result of a plot to assassinate the Saudi Ambassador to the U.S.
His assets in the U.S. were also frozen.
Soleimani is known for joining forces with the Iraqis to fight ISIS, an enemy it shares with the United States. Soleimani leads the teams of advisers supporting the Shia militias in their offensive against the Sunni dominated terror group.
