On September 27, 2023, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control designated two individuals and five entities that are part of a network that allegedly procures sensitive parts, including servomotors, for Iran’s one-way attack unmanned aerial vehicle (“UAV”) program. The servomotor is a critical component used in Iran’s Shahed-series UAVs. According to OFAC, a network comprised of individuals and entities from Iran, the People’s Republic of China, Hong Kong, Türkiye and the United Arab Emirates has enabled the shipment of thousands of servomotors to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Aerospace Force Self Sufficiency Jihad Organization (“IRGC ASF SSJO”) and facilitated hundreds of thousands of dollars in financial transactions to support the group’s procurement of these components. Servomotors are also used in the Shahed-136 UAVs that Iran has supplied to Russia to support the illegal invasion of Ukraine. OFAC reports that a servomotor procured by this network was recently recovered in the remnants of a Russia-operated Shahed-136 that was shot down in Ukraine.
The designations were imposed pursuant to Executive Order 13382, which targets those involved in the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction or the means of delivering, As a result of these designations, all property and interests in property of these designees within the United States or within the possession or control of a US person are blocked, and US persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions involving the designated persons. In addition, entities owned 50 percent or more by one or more blocked persons are also blocked.