ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced Saturday that it has directed the creation of a task force seeking to clamp down on Iran's use of land routes to transport weapons and sanctioned materials, with its remit to focus on land borders and the Caspian Sea.

Titled "Task Force Iron Gate," the command noted that it will comprise "approximately 20 civilian and military personnel based in Tampa, Florida" and will serve to bolster the pre-existing naval blockade of Iran by disrupting Iranian ground transit routes "supporting illegal shipments."

"The new CENTCOM team will coordinate with other US government agencies on preventing the movement of advanced weapons systems, dual-use technologies, sanctioned materials, and illegal revenue streams across Iran's land borders and the Caspian Sea."

Washington has sought to cut off land corridors that have allowed Iran to supply its allied factions across the Middle East with weaponry and materials, including applying pressure on neighboring states to seal their borders with the country.

In a Saturday interview with Al Jazeera, Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein confirmed that the US had requested that Baghdad seal all of its border crossing points with Iran, barring two exceptions.

Iraq closed the al-Shib border crossing with Iran in late October, prompting Mustafa Duair Abdulhassan, head of the Maysan Provincial Council, to declare that the province "will have to resort to civil disobedience and cut Maysan off from the rest of Iraq" until the crossing point is reopened.

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi subsequently ordered an investigation into Abdulhassan over his alleged "threats to declare a state of civil disobedience if the al-Shib border crossing is not reopened."

"The establishment of Task Force Iron Gate reinforces the success of our ironclad blockade against Iran at sea," said CENTCOM chief Brad Cooper. "Strengthening CENTCOM's collaboration with U.S. interagency partners will further constrain Iran's ability to finance terrorism, rebuild weapons factories, and replenish their military."

The US military restarted its naval blockade of Iran after the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding broke down in July, with CENTCOM claiming in late October that it had helped Gulf countries export over 1.5 billion barrels of oil through the Strait of Hormuz since summer and prevented all seaborne Iranian oil exports in the same timeframe.