The United States Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (Ofac) sanctioned this Friday (2) five Iranian companies and six Iranian employees for activities related to the supply of sensitive material and technology and crimes cyber.
In a statement, Ofac said the five companies were part of a network that acquired sensitive materials and technology for Iran's ballistic missile and drone programs.
Four of the companies, based in Iran and Hong Kong, acted as secret purchasing entities for Hamed Dehghan and his company Pishtazan Kavosh Gostor Boshra (PKGB), previously named by Ofac as active participants in supporting several Iranian military organizations, including the Corps. of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
FYIT, Duling Technology and Advantage Trading, from Hong Kong; and Narin Sepehr Mobin Istatis of Iran were designated as having provided or attempted to provide financial, material, technological or other support, goods and services in support of the PKGB.
The fifth company, China Oil and Petroleum Company Limited, based in Hong Kong, is said to be involved in the sale of Iranian commodities worth hundreds of millions of dollars for the benefit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' Quds Force (IRGC-QF). .
“Iran's continued proliferation of advanced conventional weapons, including unmanned aerial vehicles and missiles that target American military personnel, remains a critical threat to stability in the region,” said Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson.
In a statement, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Iranian-made drones are being used to commit acts of terrorism, including dozens of attacks by pro-Iranian militias against U.S. personnel, resulting in the deaths of military.
“The Houthis [milícia que
controla parte do Iêmen]also supported [pelo Irã]launched attacks against U.S. commercial vessels and naval assets using Iranian-made drones and missiles,” Miller added.
Additionally, Ofac issued sanctions against six officials of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Electronic Cyber Command (IRGC-CEC), an Iranian organization responsible for a range of malicious cyber activities against critical infrastructure in the US and other countries.
Those sanctioned are Hamid Reza Lashgarian, head of the IRGC-CEC and also commander of the IRGC-QF; and Mahdi Lashgarian, Hamid Homayunfal, Milad Mansuri, Mohammad Bagher Shirinkar and Reza Mohammad Amin Saberian, high-ranking IRGC-CEC officials.
According to the US, they posted images on the screens of controllers manufactured by Unitronics, an Israeli company.
“Industrial control devices, such as programmable logic controllers, used in water systems and other critical infrastructure, are sensitive targets,” OFAC said.
While this specific operation did not disrupt any essential services, the statement states that unauthorized access to essential infrastructure systems could enable actions that harm the public and cause devastating humanitarian consequences.
“The deliberate targeting of critical infrastructure by Iranian cyber actors is an unconscionable and dangerous act,” Nelson said.
All property and interests in property of the above-mentioned persons that are in the United States or in the possession or control of Americans are blocked and must be reported to OFAC.
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