US imposes sanctions on companies helping Iran produce drones

The US Treasury Department has imposed sanctions on a transnational network that helps manufacture drones in Iran. These are five organizations and two individuals from Iran, China, Hong Kong, Türkiye and the UAE.

“This network has facilitated shipments and financial transactions in support of procurement of servomotors, a critical component used in Iran’s Shahed-series UAVs,” the United States Department of the Treasury said.

The Iranian company Pishgam Electronic Safeh Company, which purchased thousands of servomotors for UAVs for hundreds of thousands of dollars, came under US restrictions; a company from Hong Kong, Hongkong Himark, which fulfilled several orders for servo motors worth more than a million dollars; the Turkish companies Dal Enerji and Anka Port, which facilitated financial transactions totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars to support the purchase of the servo motor; and the Farhad Ghaedi Company of the UAE, which facilitated the delivery of thousands of servomotors through Dubai for onward delivery to Iran.

“Iranian-made UAVs continue to be a key tool for Russia in its attacks in Ukraine, including those that terrorize Ukrainian citizens and attack its critical infrastructure,” said Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson.

Since September of last year, the US Treasury Department has applied nine rounds of sanctions related to Iran’s drone production program for Russia.