EU Targets Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Over Drones Supplies To Russia

The European Union has imposed sanctions on the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), its Aerospace Force and a company making drones that the bloc says are being used by Russia in its war against Ukraine.

Kyiv and its Western backers say Russian troops have used Iranian-made combat drone to target critical Ukrainian civilian and infrastructure objectives, including in the capital. The EU says it has evidence that Tehran has sold drones to Moscow after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in February.

Earlier this month, the Iranian government acknowledged for the first time that the country has supplied Russia with drones, but it insisted that the transfer came before the Ukraine war.

The EU said it was targeting IRGC chief General Hossein Salami because the force “supervises the development of Iran’s Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) program as well as the transfer of UAVs abroad.”

The EU said on November 14 it was targeting IRGC chief General Hossein Salami because the force “supervises the development of Iran’s Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) program as well as the transfer of UAVs abroad.”

The bloc also slapped sanctions on the IRGC Aerospace Force and its commander, saying that the Shahed-136 and Mohajer-6 drones they have allegedly supplied “are used by the Russian Federation in the war of aggression against Ukraine.”

Qods Aviation Industries, which produces drones, was also targeted “for supporting materially actions which undermine or threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine.”

Earlier, the European Union and Britain announced they were imposing sanctions on two Iranian ministers and several senior police and military officials, including IRGC members, over their alleged roles in the brutal crackdown against ongoing nationwide protests.

“The EU strongly condemns the unacceptable violent crackdown of protesters. We stand with the Iranian people and support their right to protest peacefully and voice their demands and views freely,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a statement.

In a first round of sanctions in October, the EU imposed travel bans and asset freezes on 15 Iranian individuals and institutions linked to the September death of a 22-year-old woman in the custody of morality police, which triggered the wave of protests against the clerical regime.

The bloc also imposed an asset freeze on Shahad Aviation Industries, as well as an asset freeze and travel ban on three armed forces generals suspected of links to Iran’s drone program.