U.S. slaps sanctions on Chinese companies for helping Iran produce drones

This is stated by the Office of Foreign Assets Contr (OFAC), Ukrinform reports.

"OFAC is designating a network of five companies and one individual for supporting Iran's unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) procurement efforts," the statement said.

It is clarified that the list includes Koto Machinery, Raven, Guilin Alpha, S&C Trade, and Caspro.

Read also: United States designates Wagner Group as transnational criminal organization

The network is responsible for the sale and shipment of components that can be used for the production of combat drones. In particular, they are used by the Iranian Aircraft Manufacturing Industrial Company HESA (sanctioned earlier), which produces Shahed-136 kamikaze drones.

"Iran is directly implicated in the Ukrainian civilian casualties that result from Russia's use of Iranian UAVs in Ukraine," U.S. Under Secretary of the U.S. Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said in this regard.

He emphasized that the United States would continue to target global Iranian procurement networks that supply Russia with deadly UAVs for use in its illegal war against Ukraine.

Read also: China supporting Russian war on Ukraine in many ways – U.S.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, on Thursday the international REPO network announced that it had frozen or blocked more than $58 billion worth of Russian assets, sanctioned over the Kremlin’s war on Ukraine.