These economic sanctions target “more than a dozen entities, individuals, and vessels that played a central role in facilitating and financing the Iranian Ministry of Defense’s illicit procurement and proliferation of Iranian-origin unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs),” the US Treasury Department announced. The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is targeting in particular the company Sahara Thunder, which Washington accuses of being “the primary front company overseeing [the Iranian Defense Ministry’s] commercial activities in support of these efforts.” “Sahara Thunder also plays a key role in Iran’s design, development, production, and proliferation of thousands of UAVs, many of which have ended up in Russia for use in its war against Ukraine,” the US Treasury added. OFAC is also “sanctioning two companies and one vessel involved in the shipment of Iranian products for Sepehr Energy Jahan Nama Pars, which also plays a primary role in the Iranian military’s procurement network.” “In parallel with this action, the United Kingdom and Canada are imposing sanctions on several entities and individuals involved in Iran’s procurement of UAVs and other military-related activities connected to the IRGC,” the Treasury said. “The Iranian Ministry of Defense continues to destabilize the region and the world by supporting Russia’s war in Ukraine, the unprecedented attack on Israel, and the proliferation of dangerous UAVs and other military equipment to terrorists,” said Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson. On Wednesday, Iran denounced as “baseless” new US sanctions over “malicious cyber activities” that Washington said were “conducted on behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ cyber command,” the ideological army of the Islamic republic. On the night of April 13-14, Iran fired more than 350 drones and missiles at Israel, nearly all of which were intercepted in flight. Tehran justified the attack as retaliation for a deadly strike on its consulate in the Syrian city of Damascus that it blamed on Israel. Read Also: PE condena ataque do Irão a Israel e alerta para aumento da violência (Portuguese version)