WASHINGTON (Dispatches) -- The U.S. has imposes new sanctions on Iran, this time targeting an Iranian unmanned aerial vehicles manufacturer under the pretext that the Islamic Republic had provided Russia with the UAVs to be used against Ukraine.
The United States Treasury Department slapped the sanctions against six executives and board members of Iran’s Quds Aviation Industries (QAI).
It described the targeted body as a key Iranian defense industry manufacturer responsible for designing and producing drones.
The Islamic Republic has, on repeated occasions, roundly rejected Washington’s allegations.
Last month, Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Muhammad Reza Ashtiani said Ukrainian officials had failed to provide any evidence for their claim that Russia was using Iranian drones in its February-present war on Ukraine.
Speaking following a technical meeting between Ukrainian and Iranian specialists, he said the Ukrainian side had stopped short of “presenting any evidence” during the meeting “of Russia’s use of Iranian drones in the war with this country.”
A month earlier, Iran’s Foreign Minister Hussein Amir-Abdollahian reacted to the U.S. and other Western countries’ allegations, noting that Iran had provided Russia with a limited number of drones, but the delivery had taken place months before the war in Ukraine.
Russia has similarly denied deploying any Iranian UAVs in the war against Ukraine.
The Friday sanctions also targeted the director of Iran’s Aerospace Industries Organization, which the Treasury claimed was the key organization responsible for overseeing Iran’s ballistic missile programs.
In July 2021, The Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. was planning a sanctions campaign against Iran’s defensive drones and guided missiles program, six months after the administration of President Joe Biden was sworn in.
The daily said the sanctions were aimed at disrupting the development of Iran’s weapons program, which, the Islamic Republic has invariably defined as a purely defensive program, which does not pose any threat to any foreign country.