The Iranian regime has spent a lot of money since 2012 to finance its malicious activities in the region and to support its terrorist activities in several countries around the world, according to a US report released Monday.
A report released by the State Department's Electronic Communications Team said part of the money came from Iran's additional revenue from a nuclear deal with the West in 2015.
"Instead of investing those revenues in improving the situation of the people in Iran, the regime has dedicated them to its agenda in undermining the stability of the Middle East region," the report said.
Since 2012, Iran has spent more than $ 16 billion on its involvement in Syria, and pro-Iranian militias in the region, such as the Houthis in Yemen, Hezbollah in Lebanon and its proxies in Iraq, the report said.
He said Tehran had supported its proxy militias in Iraq with $ 100 million, while spending about $ 6.4 billion to implement its agenda in Syria.
The US report pointed out that the terrorist militias in Lebanon, especially Hezbollah, received from Iran on an annual basis 700 million US dollars over the past six years.
Iran has also supported the Houthi militias in Yemen with hundreds of millions of dollars, in addition to providing $ 100 million annually to Hamas and Jihad in the Palestinian territories.
The second package of penalties
The report comes as Washington reinstates a second round of sanctions against Iran, targeting Iran's oil and financial sectors, in what US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo described as "the strongest sanctions yet imposed" on the Iranian regime.
The sanctions came into effect Monday morning and come as a result of the withdrawal of US President Donald Trump in May from the nuclear deal between Iran and the major powers. Washington re-imposed the first batch of sanctions last August.
The US decision is to prevent all foreign countries, entities or companies from entering the US market if they decide to proceed with the purchase of Iranian oil or continue to deal with Iranian banks.
