The United States has imposed sanctions on seven individuals and four entities in Iran, China, Russia, and Turkey for their roles in Iran's UAV and military aircraft development.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) says the network has been instrumental in facilitating shipments and financial transactions aimed at supporting the Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industrial Company (HESA), which is already designated by the US.
The moves follow several actions this week to further sanction individuals connected to the regime, including a former president, in the wake of a prisoner exchange between Iran and the US, which saw the release of $6bn of Iran's frozen funds unblocked from South Korea, in what critics suggest is a way for the Biden administration to pacify those who say the deal has only paved the way for more hostage diplomacy from the regime.
HESA is known for manufacturing UAVs, including the Ababil and Shahed series, and has previously faced US sanctions due to its affiliations with Iran's Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics and its support for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
In an attempt to circumvent US sanctions and export controls, HESA has used alternative names, such as Shahin Co.
Among the designated individuals are Mehdi Gogerdchian, Hamidreza Noori, and Husayn A'ini, who have been acting on behalf of HESA, the China-based Shenzhen Jiasibo Technology Company and its owner Su Chunpeng, and Guilin Alpha Rubber and Plastics Technology Company, represented by Dong Wenbo.
Several Russian entities, including Delta-Aero Technical Service Center LLC, have supplied propellers, tires, and conducted tests and overhauls for HESA's aircraft.
Turkish money exchangers Mehmet Tokdemir and Alaaddin Aykut have facilitated financial transactions in US dollars and euros to support HESA's procurement activities from various suppliers.
The sanctions dictate that all property and interests in property belonging to the designated individuals and entities within US jurisdiction must be blocked and reported to OFAC. Any transactions involving the assets of the blocked individuals or entities are strictly prohibited.
The family of retired FBI agent Bob Levinson, who disappeared in Iran in 2007, and the daughter of Jamshid Sharmahd, who is on death row in Iran, issued separate statements after the regime freed five American citizens in exchange for $6 billion and five Iranians detained in the US. The other American resident that was not included in the deal was Shahb Dalili, an Iranian citizen with permanent residence status in the United States who remains imprisoned in Iran.
Dalili, a former captain of Iran Shipping Company and a US resident, was arrested during a trip to Tehran in 2016 for his father's funeral, after which he was apprehended by Iranian security forces. His family held several rounds of sit-ins outside the White House, the latest of which was in August. Darin Dalili, Shahab Dalili's son, has repeatedly pointed out the apparent contradiction with the Robert Levinson Law, which addresses the return of hostages, including US permanent residents. Highlighting a discrepancy between policy and practice, he underlined that despite this law, a green card holder remains imprisoned in Iran without clear resolution or intervention from US authorities.
Levinson, a former FBI agent, was taken prisoner by Iran’s intelligence apparatus while conducting an unauthorized freelance investigation on Kish Island, off Iran’s southern coast. Iranian officials have never explicitly acknowledged detaining Levinson, while US officials believe he was held as a possible bargaining chip.
During an interview with CBS in 2012, former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad did not deny that Levinson was being held and implied there had been talks of a prisoner exchange. His family announced that he was presumed dead in March 2020, on the advice of US officials.
The Levinsons said in their statement, “We will never stop demanding that Iranian leaders answer for what happened to Robert Levinson, the greatest man we have ever known. His abduction on Iranian soil in March 2007, his years of imprisonment with a total lack of any human rights or decency, and ultimately his murder, are on their hands.”
They described the release of the Americans as part of the new deal as “good news,” saying, “Today is a great day because American hostages unjustly held by the government of Iran have been returned to their families... But make no mistake: Today’s good news does not end our family’s nightmare and ongoing pain. Nor does it mask or excuse the shameful cruelty and unending lies of the Iranian regime.”
They also expressed gratitude to the Biden Administration for sanctioning former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence (MOIS) "for their involvement in the constant promotion of lies about Robert Levinson’s whereabouts that still persist to this day.”
Immediately after the release of the hostages – at least three of whom are Iranian-Americans -- President Joe Biden announced fresh sanctions on the hardline former Iranian president and the country’s notorious intelligence ministry over the still undetermined fate of Levinson.
Sharmahd, who holds German and Iranian citizenship and is a US permanent resident, was abducted by Iranian agents in Dubai in 2020, smuggled to Iran, and sentenced to death in February. He was convicted of heading a pro-monarchist group named Tondar accused of a deadly bombing incident that occurred in 2008 at a religious center in Shiraz, killing 14 and injuring 215 more.
Having actively sought US officials' attention through sit-in protests outside the State Department to advocate for her father's case to no avail, Sharmahd's daughter, Gazelle, urged Biden – and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz -- to explain how they are going to ensure her father "will be safe and alive and not murdered."
"The last American patriot left behind in a hostage release in 2015 was Bob Levinson, and we all know that cost him his life,” she stated. “At this point, President Biden and Chancellor Scholz owe our family an explanation of how they will redouble their efforts to make sure this horrific hostage-abandonment deal will not cost my dad his life and get him out of the torture chamber to rejoin our family, and what do they plan to do about this in weeks, not months or years."
Referring to her father’s death sentence, Gazelle said her father “was left behind to die.”
National security advisor Qasim al-Araji, leading a high-level security delegation, arrived in Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, on Monday, just a day before the September 19 deadline for finalizing the disarmament agreement.
Back in March, during a ceremony attended by Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' Al Sudani in Baghdad, then-Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), Ali Shamkhani, and his Iraqi counterpart al-Araji signed a joint security cooperation document aimed at curtailing the activities of Iranian-Kurdish militants.
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), which has cordial relations with Tehran, has on several occasions called on neighboring countries and armed Kurdish groups to not use the region’s territory as an arena to settle scores. In July, the Iranian military threatened military action if Iraq failed to meet the deadline.
Tehran has long accused the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) of harboring opposition groups labeled as "terrorist" or "anti-revolutionary" and permitting them to use border areas as launchpads for attacks against Iran. These groups claim that their armed campaign aims to "defend the rights of the Kurds" in Iran. The Iranian regime has escalated attacks against Iranian Kurds sheltering in Iraqi Kurdistan, citing "separatist" Kurdish groups as instigating conflict in Iranian Kurdish cities by supporting popular protests.
Al-Araji visited Tehran last week "under the direction of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani," to discuss tightening security at the border between the two countries. This visit came several days after the Islamic Republic's warnings that cross-border attacks would continue unless Baghdad and Erbil secured the borders. In recent weeks, he has been shuttling between Sulaymaniyah, Erbil, Tehran, and Baghdad to coordinate this effort.
During a joint press conference with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in Tehran on September 13, Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein announced that several groups had already been disarmed, and arrangements were being made to set up camps at an undisclosed location for the relocation of these groups.
Waad Qado, a member of the Iraqi parliament’s security and defense committee, stated on Monday that Iraq had requested an extension of the deadline. Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Ashtiani, however, said on Sunday that Tehran would not extend the ultimatum, warning Baghdad of an "eleventh-hour decision" on the matter.
"We do not have any extension [to the deadline]. We will act in due time in accordance with the agreement made [with Iraq]," he said, warning Baghdad of a last-minute assessment of the situation before making the final decision.
The spokesman for Iraq’s Joint Operations Command also said on Sunday that government forces have begun to gain full control over all border points with neighboring Iran, emphasizing that Baghdad is fully committed to implementing the agreement. Major General Tahsin al-Khafaji added, "The step is meant to prevent the use of Iraqi soil to launch an attack on neighboring states, as emphasized in the Iraqi Constitution."
Earlier this month, the ground forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) deployed forces to the northwestern borders of Iran.
In general, Kurdish parties, including Komala and the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI), favor Kurdish autonomy within a federal Iran. On the other hand, Pejak (the Free Life Party of Kurdistan), an affiliate of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which originated in Turkey but is also based in northern Iraq, generally advocates for a unified, independent Kurdistan uniting Kurds in Syria, Iraq, Turkey, and Iran.
