Obama administration targets WMDs

The Obama administration is taking aim at people and organizations in Syria, North Korea and Iran believed to pose a threat of contributing to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

In a notice to be published in Tuesday’s Federal Register, the State Department is announcing steps to freeze any assets within U.S. jurisdiction that belong to the designated people and entities.

Among the targets is Amr Armanazi, director of Syria’s Scientific Studies Research Center (SSRC). The agency is responsible for producing non-conventional weapons and has focused on the development of biological and chemical weapons, as well as missiles, according to a news release issued last year by the Treasury Department.

“During his tenure, Armanazi oversaw a facility that was involved in the production of sarin nerve agent,” Treasury said at the time.

The agency is also enacting sanctions against the Tehran, Iran-based Center for Innovation and Technology Cooperation (CITC), Pentane Chemistry Industries (PCI), and Hossein Tanideh. Tanideh and the two other entities were each determined to be involved in Iran’s nuclear program.

Responding to North Korea’s December ballistic missile launch, which was deemed to be in violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions, the State Department is also targeting the Korean Committee for Space Technology (KCST).

Included in those sanctions are KCST senior official Paek Chang-Ho, and General Manager of the Sohae Satellite Launching Station Chang Myong-Chin, according to the notice.

“These actions aim to disrupt North Korea’s continued WMD proliferation and procurement efforts that are in flagrant violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions,” the State Department noted in a news release issued earlier this year. “North Korea will continue to face isolation if it refuses to take concrete steps to address the concerns of the international community over its nuclear and missile programs.”