United States adds sweeping new sanctions on IS

The State Department designations included Islamic State’s Khorasan and Caucuses affiliates, as well as the Mujahidin Indonesian Timur, an Islamic State-linked group operating in Indonesia, and the Jund al-Khilafah, a similar organization in Algeria.

The U.S. State Department has designated 10 people as well as five groups as foreign terrorists, including citizens of Britain, France, a designation that automatically imposes penalties and sanctions on the individuals it announced.

The USA has imposed sanctions against over 30 leaders of the Islamic State radical group, finance supporters, and affiliated groups in an attempt to block the group from the global financial system. Sally Jones, a British native and the widow of an IS operative killed recently in an American drone strike, is among the people designated as terrorists.

The State Department also designated as terrorists three French nationals and a Russian. The action came just ahead of a Leaders’ Summit on Countering ISIL and Violent Extremism, due to be held on Tuesday on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly meetings in New York.

“It’s a problem that the global community faces… it’s a problem that we all share”, says a senior official in the administration of President Barack Obama, insisting on anonymity.

The effort is “about trying to financially isolate ISIL within the territory it controls, making sure its financial resources do not turn into financial strength”.

The government spokesman said those who had been added to the list were actively seeking to recruit others to Islamic State and using social media to promote activity online, including providing guidance on how to make homemade bombs.

Four British citizens allegedly fighting or recruiting for the Islamic State are on a United Nations sanctions list on Britain’s recommendation. The State Department designations mean that anyone who supports the individuals or groups can be prosecuted under U.S. law.

A spokeswoman for United Kingdom Prime Minister David Cameron said the measure was created to deter other Britons from travelling to Iraq and Syria to join ISIL. In 2013, al-Rumaysh “coordinated” with Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and the Al-Nusrah Front to “facilitate the travel of ISIL members”, according to a Treasury fact sheet- a rare instance of al Qaeda-ISIS coordination.

In July, Glaser said the Islamic State is clearing as much as $500 million per year from oil sales, more than enough to meet a payroll he estimated at a high of $360 million a year.