US sanctions network accused of supplying Iran’s drone production
Al Jazeera
Tehran is suspected of supplying UAVs to Russia and Middle Eastern proxies.
The United States has imposed sanctions on a network accused of evading trade restrictions to supply Iran with components to build drones.
The US Treasury Department on Tuesday announced the measures have been implemented against a web of foreign front companies that have been sending Tehran sensitive equipment. Iranian-built unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are being used in the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine.
The sanctions target 10 entities and four individuals. The firms affected include “intermediary companies, front companies, and logistics businesses” based in Iran, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Indonesia.
The network, the US Treasury says, has procured hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of foreign components for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Aerospace Force Self-Sufficiency Jihad Organization, an Iranian research and development unit that builds cybe-warfare equipment and weaponry.
Iran is supplying UAVs to its “terrorist proxies in the Middle East and to Russia,” the US administration added.
