The package of sanctions has been announced in co-ordination with the US and Canada, and follows Iran’s missile and drone attack against Israel earlier this month…reports Asian Lite News
The UK has announced sanctions against individuals and companies linked to Iran’s drone and missile industry. Two people linked to the country’s network of drone production, Seyed Mohsen Vahabzadeh Moghadam and Abbas Abdi Asjerd, will be subject to a UK travel ban and asset freeze.
The pair are directors of a network of Iranian companies involved in producing drones.
They also have connections to a man named Abdollah Mehrabi, head of an aerospace force within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), who was sanctioned in 2022 for providing drones to Russia. Four companies – Bonyan Danesh Shargh, Pishro Sanat Aseman Sharif Company, Alvand Motorbuilding Industries Company and Moj Gostar Aseman Parvaz Company – will also face a UK asset freeze.
Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron said: “The Iranian regime’s dangerous attack on Israel risked thousands of civilian casualties and wider escalation in the region. Today the UK and our partners have sent a clear message – we will hold those responsible for Iran’s destabilising behaviour to account. Alongside our partners, we will continue to tighten the net on Iran’s ability to develop and export these deadly weapons.”
The package of sanctions has been announced in co-ordination with the US and Canada, and follows Iran’s missile and drone attack against Israel earlier this month.
A similar set of restrictions were announced on April 18, aimed at Iranian military top brass and defence organisations. G7 foreign ministers, including Lord Cameron, last week warned they were planning joint action in order to stifle Iran’s influence in the Middle East.
More than 400 sanctions have already been imposed on Iran by the UK, including on the entirety of the IRGC. The UK has further plans to expand trade sanctions against the Iranian regime by introducing a ban on exporting the component parts used in drone and missile production to Iran.
This is intended to deny Iran access to the parts it needs to make these weapons and limit its military capabilities.
Meanwhile, a Greek navy frigate fired on two drones approaching the ship in the Gulf of Aden on Thursday morning – one was shot down.
The second unmanned aerial vehicle then turned away, as reported by Greek radio (ERT), citing the Ministry of Defence in Athens. The frigate is continuing its mission, it added.
The frigate was escorting a merchant ship as part of the EU naval mission Aspides, which aims to protect merchant ships from attacks by the militant Islamist Houthi from Yemen.
The Gulf of Aden, off the Yemeni coast, links the Arabian Sea and the Red Sea.
Houthi militants have been attacking ships in the Red Sea region in what they say is retaliation for Israeli military action in the Gaza Strip.
Major shipping companies are increasingly avoiding the shortest sea route between Asia and Europe and sailing the much longer journey around South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope instead.
The Iran-backed Houthi militia say they want to force an end to the Israeli attacks in Gaza, which followed the unprecedented massacre by the Palestinian Islamist organisation Hamas last October.
Several Western countries, including the United States and Britain, have launched operations to protect ships in the region in response to the Houthi attacks. The European Union has also deployed a military operation to secure merchant shipping in the Red Sea.
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