US sanctions Chinese, Iranian companies involved in building drones

The US Treasury has imposed sanctions on a China-based network of companies and individuals, alleged to be helping Iran build unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), commonly known as drones.

The network was responsible for the sale and delivery of thousands of components to an Iranian aircraft manufacturer, the Treasury Department said in a statement on Thursday.

The Iranian aircraft manufacturer is said to be involved in the production of a certain model that Iran also exports to Russia, the Treasury said, and had been sanctioned in the past for this reason.

‘Iran is directly implicated in the Ukrainian civilian casualties that result from Russia’s use of Iranian UAVs in Ukraine,’ the Treasury statement said.

The sanctions mean any assets held by those affected in the US will be frozen and US citizens will be banned from doing business with them. The sanctions will also make it much harder for those affected to do business around the world.

The US also announced further sanctions on 39 companies in the financial sector that Washington said, form a ‘shadow banking network’ enabling Iranian companies to access the international financial system and conceal their transactions.

‘Iran cultivates complex sanctions evasion networks, where foreign buyers, exchange houses, and dozens of front companies cooperatively help sanctioned Iranian companies to continue to trade,’ Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo said.

Source: Ghana News Agency