The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control and the Department of Justice have imposed sanctions on six entities and two individuals in Iran, the United Arab Emirates and China for procuring unmanned aerial vehicle components for Qods Aviation Industries, a key manufacturer of Iran’s drone program, and other industrial entities.
The DOJ charged Iran-based Rah Roshd International Trade Exchanges Development and individuals Hossein Akbari and Reza Amidi with conspiring to provide material support to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a designated terrorist organization, and illegally procuring U.S. technology for Iranian tactical drones. Akbari is Rah Roshd’s managing director, while Amidi, previously sanctioned in 2013, served as QAI commercial manager. Both individuals remain at large.
According to the Treasury, Rah Roshd procured components for the Mohajer-6 combat UAV and other parts worth hundreds of thousands of dollars for QAI. It is also accused of selling motors and parts to Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industrial Company and Shahid Bakeri Industrial Group, which are major figures in Iran’s military-industrial complex.
Other sanctioned entities are Abbas Yousefnehad in Iran, Infracom Communication Networks in the UAE, and Zibo Shenbo Machinelectronics in China, which are identified as having facilitated motor procurements for Rah Roshd. Further designations target Emirati financial intermediaries Diamond Castle Electronics Trading LLC, Future Trends Goods Wholesalers LLC, and Phenomena International General Trading LLC.
This action is the second round of sanctions targeting Iranian weapons proliferators since President Donald Trump issued a national security memorandum in February ordering a maximum pressure campaign against Iran. “Treasury will continue to disrupt Iran’s military-industrial complex and its proliferation of UAVs, missiles and conventional weapons that often end up in the hands of destabilizing actors, including terrorist proxies,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement posted on the agency’s website.
In June 2024, OFAC sanctioned four Iranian entities and one executive for contributing to Iran’s UAV program. The sanctioned companies were all linked to Rayan Roshd Afzar, a company previously sanctioned for procuring Iranian drone parts.