Canada imposes sanctions on Iranian drone manufacturers

CANADA has extended sanctions against Iran to include Shahed Aviation Industries and Qods Aviation Industries, which manufacture the Shahed and Mohajer-6 drones, on the sanctions list. This is stated on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Canada.

Both companies may supply drones to RUSSIA for use in the conflict in Ukraine, according to Ottawa.

The sanctions list also included six individuals, including:

Chief Military Adviser to the Supreme Leader and former Commander-in-Chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), Seyyed Yahya Safavi; he held this post from 1997–2007; Brigadier General of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Deputy Minister of Supply, Research and Industry of the Iranian Ministry of Defense Seyyed Hojatollah Qureishi; Brigadier General and Commander of Drone Control in the Aerospace Forces of the IRGC Said Aghajani; Ali Azadi, commander of the law enforcement forces in the Iranian province of Kurdistan.

Canada considers these people involved in human rights violations.

Canadian individuals and entities have been banned from doing business with companies and Iranians that have been sanctioned. Canadian assets belonging to them were frozen, individuals were banned from entering the country.

Iran acknowledged the supply of drones to Russia before the start of a special operation in Ukraine Politics

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Moscow lists Orlan-10, Lancet, Pacer, and Geran-2 as UAVs used in Ukraine. The latter, according to Ukrainian authorities, is a version of the Iranian Shahed-type combat drone. The Russian side denies the use of Iranian-made drones in the special operation in Ukraine. Iranian Ambassador to the UN Amir Said Iravani also categorically denied such accusations.

In October, the EU decided to investigate the matter, and on October 20 announced sanctions against Shahed Aviation Industries. Earlier, the same sanctions were imposed by the United Kingdom.

On November 5, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian acknowledged that Tehran had handed over a "limited number" of drones to Moscow, but stressed that this was before the start of the special operation.