US Sanctions Firms, People Involved in Transfer of Iranian Drones to Russia
The U.S. this week sanctioned firms and people involved in making drones and transferring them from Iran to Russia, including an Iranian producer and two United Arab Emirates entities. The designations come less than a month after the U.S. said it was considering additional sanctions on both Russia and Iran following Iranian sales and operation of drones in Ukraine (see 2210210046).
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One designation targets Shahed Aviation Industries Research Center, which the Office of Foreign Assets Control said is the Iranian firm responsible for the design and production of UAVs being used by Russian forces in Ukraine. OFAC said the research center manufactured the "Shahed-136 one-way attack UAV" that Russian forces used in recent attacks on civilian infrastructure in Kyiv, Odesa and the Kharkiv region of Ukraine.
OFAC also sanctioned UAE-based Success Aviation Services FZC and i Jet Global DMCC for facilitating the transfers to Russia. The agency said both companies worked with U.S.-sanctioned Iranian firm Safiran Airport Services (see 2209080046) to coordinate flights for shipments of the UAVs, personnel and "related equipment." OFAC said the sanctions were coordinated with the UAE government.
OFAC also sanctioned Abbas Djuma and Tigran Khristoforovich Srabionov, two people who helped PMC Wagner, a sanctioned Russian military company, acquire the UAVs from Iran.
The designations hold "accountable companies and individuals that have enabled Russia’s use of Iranian-built UAVs to brutalize Ukrainian civilians,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said. “This is part of our larger effort to disrupt Russia’s war effort and deny the equipment it needs through sanctions and export controls.”