EU Council Announces Further Sanctions Over Iran’s UAV Program

The EU Council has sanctioned six Iranian people and three entities for involvement in Tehran’s UAV program,supplying Russia for its invasion of Ukraine or armed groups in the Middle East and Red Sea region.

Sanctioned individuals include Iran’s Defense Minister Mohammad-Reza Gharaei Ashtiani; Commander of Revolutionary Guards' extraterritorial Qods Force Esmail Qaani; Afshin Khaji Fard, who heads the Iranian Aviation Industries Organization (IAIO); Kavan Electronics Behrad LLC CEO Mehdi Dehghani Mohammadabadi;its board chair Hossein Hatefi Ardakani; and Gholam Ali Rashid, the commander of the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters.

The entities listed in the new measure are the IRGC Navy, IRGC’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, and Kavan Electronics Behrad LLC, which procures and sells components for manufacturing UAVs.

The European Council also strongly and unequivocally condemned the Iranian attack on Israel and affirmed its full solidarity with the people of Israel and commitment to Israel's security and to regional stability.

The Council also called on Iran and its proxies to cease all attacks that have escalated following Hamas October 7 attack on Israel that sparked the current Middle East conflict.

“The European Council stated that Russia’s access to sensitive items and technologies with battlefield relevance must be restricted to the maximum extent possible, including by targeting entities in third countries enabling the circumvention of sanctions.”

The European Council also called on the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and on the Commission “to prepare further sanctions, notably on Iran.”