US Sanctions, Indicts Members of Iran Drone Procurement Network
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned six entities and two people in Iran, the United Arab Emirates and China responsible for buying drone parts for Iran-based Qods Aviation Industries, the leading manufacturer for the country's drone program. DOJ also announced charges against people and one company involved in the network after saying they illegally sent controlled U.S. technology to Iran.
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The designations target Iran-based Rah Roshd International Trade Exchanges Development, a company that has contracted with Qods Aviation Industries, along with Hossein Akbari, the company's managing director. The agency also sanctioned Abbas Yousefnejad, who works as the company's "alternate inspector" and who has helped it procure parts, cables and motors.
The DOJ indictment charges Akbari, Rah Roshd and Iranian national Reza Amidi with conspiring to procure U.S. parts for Iranian drones, conspiring to provide material support to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and conspiring to commit money laundering. Starting from January 2020, DOJ said, Amidi, who was previously sanctioned by OFAC, and Akbari shipped American-made parts to Iran for use in weapons, including in the Mohajer-6 drone used by Russia against Ukraine. The agency said the Ukranian Air Force shot down an Iranian-made Mohajer-6 drone used by the Russian military, and that drone contained parts made by a U.S. company whose parts were sold by Rah Roshd to Iran.
DOJ said Amidi and Akbari disguised the shipments' end-users from U.S. companies by falsely telling them the items would be sent to unrelated companies in the United Arab Emirates or Belgium. They also allegedly used a “spoofed” email address, containing a misspelled version of the UAE company's name, to "communicate regarding the procurement of parts, including parts manufactured by U.S. companies."
Amidi and Akbari also used multiple shell companies to pay for the drone parts to hide the true destination and identities of the sanctioned end users, including QAI and the IRGC, DOJ said. They also used aliases to hide their identities.
Along with shipping parts to Iran, they also provided "material support" to the IRGC by helping to construct military shelters, provide cameras and drone field hangers, and "conspiring to procure drone parts as well as parts to operate drones, including servo motors, pneumatic masts, and engines, for the benefit of the IRGC’s military campaign," DOJ said. The agency said the head of the IRGC Aerospace Force's drone command sent a written thank-you message to Rah Roshd "for its work on behalf of the IRGC" and praised Rah Roshd’s "achievements in designing and manufacturing 'servo motors' for defense equipment." The letter also included a quote from the Supreme Leader of Iran.
Both Akbari and Reza Amidi remain at large.
Along with sanctioning Akbari and Rah Roshd, OFAC also designated UAE-based Infracom Communication Networks FZE for helping to facilitate purchases of motors for Rah Roshd, and it sanctioned China-based motor manufacturer Zibo Shenbo Machinelectronics Co Ltd, which authorized Rah Roshd to be its distributor in Iran, supplying it with tens of thousands of motors for U.S.-sanctioned Shahid Bakeri Industrial Group.
The agency also sanctioned UAE-based Diamond Castle Electronics Trading LLC and Future Trends Goods Wholesalers LLC for "serving as financial intermediaries" between Rah Roshd and international suppliers, including China-based Zibo Shenbo. OFAC also said UAE-based Phenomena International General Trading LLC has served as a "financial intermediary" for Infracom.