The Department of the Treasury has imposed sanctions on two companies and four individuals that have supported Iran’s unmanned aerial vehicle programs that have been used to conduct attacks on U.S. forces and international shipping.
“Iran’s proliferation of UAVs across the region threatens international peace and stability. Iran and its proxy militants have used UAVs to attack U.S. forces, our partners, and international shipping,” Wally Adeyemo, deputy secretary of the Treasury, said in a statement published Friday.
Adeyemo added that the department will continue to hold the Middle Eastern country accountable for its violent and irresponsible acts.
The department’s office of foreign assets control designated Saeed Aghajani, a brigadier general of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, for leading the planning and training for the IRGC aerospace force’s UAV operations and Iran-based company KIPAS for its involvement in improving the force’s drone program.
“As a result of today’s designations, all property and interests in property subject to U.S. jurisdiction of the persons designated are blocked, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with the designated persons or their blocked property,” the department’s statement reads.