Canada Sanctions More Iranian Officials Over Drones, Protests Crackdown

According to a report by Washington Free Beacon on Friday, the administration has given the go-ahead for a sanctions waiver issued by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and transmitted to Congress earlier this week, authorizing Iraq to pay Iran. 

The latest sanctions waiver permits "the Trade Bank of Iraq to engage in financial transactions … with the Central Bank of Iran in connection with the purchase of electricity." The payment will be in cash, the report says, something the Iranian regime needs desperately amid a financial crisis that has seen the Iranian currency drop by more than 50 percent since September.

Blinken signed the waiver on March 17, one day after reports surfaced about Iran's claims of imminent receiving of the $500 million, which elicited a denial from the Treasury Department.

Earlier in the month, Hamid Hosseini, the chairman of the Iran-Iraq chamber of commerce claimed that the United States has allowed Iraq to release $500 million of its debts to Iran. Iraq owes Tehran more than $10 billion for energy imports because US banking sanctions do not allow dollar transfers to Iran. However, Hosseini said that Iraq's debt has reached $18 billion.

"Of course the Biden administration lied that they wouldn't waive sanctions on Iran just days before they did so," said Senator Ted Cruz (R., Texas), adding, "They know that by allowing money to pour into Iran, they are not only endangering the safety and security of Americans but also undermining everything they claim to believe about defeating [Vladimir] Putin.”

Yellen said on Thursday the United States was looking at ways to increase the efficacy of its sanctions regime, acknowledging that the punitive measures had not resulted in the behavioral or policy changes Washington seeks from Tehran.

"Our sanctions on Iran have created real economic crises in the country, and Iran is greatly suffering economically because of the sanctions ... Has that forced a change in behavior? The answer is much less than we would ideally like," Yellen told lawmakers in a hearing.

She did not specify what behavioral change Washington was expecting from Tehran, nor did she elaborate on the new ways. 

Critics of crippling economic sanctions imposed by Trump administration since 2018 and largely maintained by the Biden administration, argue that Iran’s behavior has not changed as it has accelerated its nuclear program and continues to sow instability in the region.

Supporters of the sanctions say that the Iranian regime is facing a serious financial crisis, which impacts its ability to pursue its military and malign activities. They also argue that sanctions take time to have a behavioral impact, citing Russia’s continued aggression in Ukraine despite Western sanctions.

Although the Biden administration has continued issuing new sanctions against certain Iranian entities and individuals for their role in acquiring nuclear technology or money laundering, Iran has increased it oil exports since 2021.

The EU Monday imposed a new package of sanctions against Iran in response to human rights violations, adding eight individuals and one entity to its list of designations.

"In particular, the Council is sanctioning members of the judiciary responsible for handing down death sentences in unfair trials, and for the torturing of convicts," the EU said in a statement.

Foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani was quoted by the official IRNA news agency as saying that Europe “instead of intervening in the internal affairs of others should avoid violent behavior and crackdown on protesters,” referring to protests in France.

Kanaani has been regularly criticizing France for alleged violations of human rights against its citizens, saying it uses violent methods against protesters.

The United States, European Union and individual European countries have imposed several rounds of sanctions against institutions and individuals carrying out rights violations against antigovernment protesters and arresting people for simply voicing support for the Woman, Life Freedom movement.

Around 500 civilians were killed by Iran’s security forces in the first five months of the protests that began in September after Mahsa Amini, a young woman was killed in the custody of the notorious ‘hijab police.’

Kanaani, calling Western sanctions “illegal and illogical” threatened retaliation, saying Iran reserves the right to “respond” to sanctions.

The US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), in coordination with the Federal Bureau of investigations (FBI) targeted a network in Iran and Turkey for involvement in the procurement of equipment, including European-origin engines for drones on behalf of Iran’s defense ministry and Armed Forces Logistics (MODAFL), which is already designated by the US.

Iran has been supplying hundreds of its Shahed kamikaze drones (UAVs) to Russia that have been used since October to target Ukraine’s military and civilian infrastructure. The United States and its European allies have warned Tehran to cease its military support to Russia, as they provide air defense and other weapons to Ukraine to defend itself against massive Russian bombardments.

Although the Treasury’s announcement did not mention Russia, but Western officials have repeatedly noted Iran’s drone supplies and have warned that Tehran is also contemplating to provide missiles to Moscow.

“Iran’s well-documented proliferation of UAVs and conventional weapons to its proxies continues to undermine both regional security and global stability,” Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson said. “The United States will continue to expose foreign procurement networks in any jurisdiction that supports Iran’s military industrial complex.”

The US has intensified targeted sanctions against companies and individuals since September, when 18 months of nuclear negotiations with Iran ended in impasse. At the same time, nationwide antigovernment protests erupted in Iran followed by deadly crackdowns that killed around 500 civilians. Third, came the use of the kamikaze drones by Russia, which ended any immediate hope of more talks over the nuclear issue.

The Treasury noted that just over a week earlier it had designated a China-based network in connection with Iran’s UAV procurement efforts.

Parts of Iranian drones shot down in Ukraine show that they included hundreds of American and other Western-made parts.

In January, Canada’s Bombardier Recreational Products (BRP) submitted a report to the government on its engines ending up in Iranian-made drones used by Russia. The drones used the company’ Rotax-912 engines.

Bombardier ended supplies of the engines to Iran in 2019, although the Mahtabal company in Tehran still markets itself as official representative for Rotax engines. The date – 2019 – suggests this was a response to the United States 2018 introduction of ‘maximum pressure’ sanctions that threatened punitive action against third parties dealing with Iran.

There were reports that some engines might have been provided by a Bombardier subsidiary in Austria.

Tuesday’s Treasury action designated Defense Technology and Science Research Center in Iran, a subsidiary of MODAFL, and its commercial manager and procurement agent Amanallah Paidar. It also designated a Turkish individual and an entity for assisting Paidar and MODAFL.

Another individual in Iran named Asghar Mahmoudi was also sanctioned for assisting Paidar for facilitating supply of items, including marine electronics.

The European Council in a statement on Monday announced that Ahmad Alamolhoda, the Friday imam of Mashhad and representative of Khorasan Razavi province in the Assembly of Experts is included in the list.

According to the Council, the firebrand cleric in his speeches has participated in the propagation of hate against women, demonstrators and religious minorities; therefore, he is responsible for serious human rights violations in Iran.

It also sanctioned three members of the judiciary responsible for handing down death sentences in unfair trials and for the torturing of convicts.

The member of the Iranian parliament and its spokesman for the cultural commission Ahmad Rastineh, the spokesman of the EU-listed Headquarters for Enjoining Right and Forbidding Evil Ali Khan Mohammadi, the Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution, a body which promoted several projects undermining the freedom of girls and women and discriminating minorities are among the people and bodies targeted.

So far 204 individuals and 34 Iranian entities have been sanctioned by the bloc. They consist of an asset freeze, a travel ban to the EU and a prohibition to make funds or economic resources available to those listed.

Alamolhoda, who is the father-in-law of President Ebrahim Raisi, is known for his ultraconservative statements, especially the one on December 30, 2009, where he was quoted as calling opponents of the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei as party of Satan.