The US imposed sanctions against five companies for supporting the development of Iranian UAVs

The US Treasury imposed sanctions against five legal entities and two individuals from Iran, China, Hong Kong, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. should from a message from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).

The company and sanctioned individuals are allegedly involved in purchasing parts for Iran’s drone program. In particular, they allegedly facilitated supply and financial transactions for the procurement of a critical component for Iran’s Shahed drones, according to US authorities. At the same time, the report states that Iran allegedly supplies Shahed-136 to Russia, which, in turn, uses them in Ukraine. The Ministry of Finance emphasized that they will hold accountable those who facilitate the supply of Iranian drones to Russia and the Middle East.

Since September 2022, OFAC has issued a total of nine rounds of sanctions targeting Iran’s drone program. This time, the restrictions included Iranian Pishgam Electronic Safeh, Hong Kong’s Hongkong Himark, Turkish Dal Enerji and Anka Port and Farhad Ghaedi from the UAE. Representatives of the first two companies were also subject to sanctions.

In March USA introduced sanctions against a number of Chinese companies for supporting the Iranian drone program. According to OFAC, the network consisted of five companies and was responsible for “the sale and delivery of thousands of aerospace components, including components that can be used to create UAVs.”

Then it was also indicated that the drones were exported to Russia for use in special operations. However, at the end of 2022, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov indicated to the fact that Western countries are not even trying to present any facts confirming that the drones were supplied to Russia.