The latest US sanctions on Iran target Tehran’s drone program, nine days after five “suicide” drones struck the US base at Tanf in eastern Syria.
The Treasury announced the sanctions on Friday against two senior members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, two other individuals, and two companies. It cited the supply of lethal drones and related material to groups in Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen, and Ethiopia.
The IRGC has used and proliferated lethal UAVs to Iranian-supported groups, including attacks on U.S forces and on international shipping.
The United States will use all available tools, including sanctions, to prevent, deter, and dismantle the procurement networks that supply UAV-related material and technology to Iran, as well as the Iranian entities that engage in such proliferation.
The sanctioned commanders, Brig. Gen. Saeed Aghajani and Brig. Gen. Abdollah Mehrabi, oversee the drone operations throughout the Middle East, according to the Treasury. The two blacklisted firms are the Kimia Part Sivan Company and the Oje Parvaz Mado Nafar Company.
The U.S. is sanctioning six Iranian targets linked to the regime’s Unmanned Aerial Vehicle activities. We are firmly committed to countering all of Iran’s threatening activity and those who support it.
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) October 29, 2021
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh complained, “The imposition of new sanctions exposes the quite contradictory behavior of the White House”. He declared that the Biden Administration was continuing the approach of Donald Trump, “sending the message that [it] is not trustworthy at all”.
