The US Biden administration, evidently seeking to demonstrate after agreeing to a prisoner swap that it isn’t soft on Iran, has sanctioned seven individuals and four entities in Iran, Russia, China and Turkey and accused them of supplying components to Tehran’s drone program.
The US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Tuesday imposed sanctions on a Chinese person called Su Chunpeng and his firm Shenzhen Jiasibo Technology Co Ltd after they allegedly helped facilitate the supply of aerospace-grade radar altimeter systems, antennas, sensors and other parts with possible unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) applications to Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industrial Company (HESA).
The OFAC also sanctioned Dong Wenbo, a China-based person, for helping facilitate the sale of aircraft brake disks to HESA.
The sanctions came after five Americans, who had been jailed in Iran for years, were allowed to go home on Monday. The US agreed on the release of US$6 billion of Iranian funds held in South Korea to banks in Doha. Five Iranians imprisoned in US jails for violating US sanctions were also released.
Last Friday, the OFAC sanctioned 29 individuals and entities in connection with the Iranian regime’s crackdown on nationwide protests following the death of Mahsa Amini in custody of the Morality Police.
On Monday, it designated Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the former president of Iran, for having detained US nationals and provided material support to the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS), a US-sanctioned entity.
Hong Kong’s role
The latest US sanctions against Su, Dong and Jiasibo Technology were related to those announced on March 9, when five Chinese firms and one individual were sanctioned by the OFAC for their shipments of light engines and other drone components to Iran, partly through Hong Kong.
The OFAC criticized Iran for having supplied its drones to Russia during the Ukraine war. “Iran is directly implicated in the Ukrainian civilian casualties that result from Russia’s use of Iranian UAVs in Ukraine,” Treasury Under Secretary Brian Nelson said at that time.
Separately, the US Department of Justice said Monday that a Hong Kong-based Russian man has been taken into US custody and charged with smuggling US-made, military-grade microelectronics, specifically OLED micro-displays, to Russia.
OLED micro-displays can be used to make rifle scopes, night-vision googles, thermal optics and other weapon systems.
Nikkei reported on July 6 that US Treasury officials quietly visited Hong Kong in mid-June to urge the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), financial institutions, law firms, consultancies and industry groups to do more to curb the flow of advanced US technology from the city into Russia.
In a meeting in Hong Kong, US officials shared with the participants a list of 38 items designated “high priority dual-use goods.”
“The trade and economic cooperation between China and Russia has continued to deepen and become more solid under the strategic guidance of the two heads of state after their meeting in March,” China’s Commerce Minister Wang Wentao told Russia’s Economic Development Minister Maksim Reshetnikov in a meeting in Beijing on Tuesday.
“In the next phase, both sides should increase cross-border connectivity and deepen mutual trade and investment cooperation,” he said.
From the punditocracy
“The fact that Washington agreed to swap prisoners with Iran and also imposed sanctions on the country showed the contradictions in the US policy,” a writer says in an article published by the Shangguan News, a new media unit of the Shanghai government’s Jiefang Daily, on Wednesday.
The writer says the Biden administration wants to gain voters’ support by pushing forward the prisoner swap deal but at the same time it remains unwilling to enable real changes in US-Iran relations.
“Incumbent US President Joe Biden wants to boost his popularity by resolving the humanitarian crisis in Iran before the US has a presidential election next year,” Sun Degang, director of Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Fudan University, is quoted in the article as saying.
“But regarding the Iran nuclear issue, it’s hard to see any compromises between the US and Iran in the foreseeable future,” Sun says. “The US does not want to discuss the Iran nuclear deal while the Iranian government is dominated by conservative politicians.”Sun says that since Iran became a member of the Shanghai Cooperative Organization in July, it has enjoyed more diplomatic space while feeling less incentive to improve its relations with the US.
A Guangdong-based writer says in an article published on Tuesday that China has always been one of the most trustworthy partners of Iran, which has faced economic problems due to the US sanctions over the past few decades.
“China has proactively supported Iran by providing it with financial aid, key materials and technological support,” he says. “China and Iran are also strengthening their financial cooperation, which will provide strong support to the Iranian economy.”
He adds that the China-Iran ties were also boosted by a recent deal, in which Iran will grant an infrastructure project to a Chinese firm and settle the payment with its crude oil products. He says the trust and friendship between the two countries will continue to grow.
Media reported on August 29 that a Chinese company won a US$2.7 billion deal to help expand the Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran. The project will cover an area of more than 4,000 square meters.
Stronger China-Iran ties
Apart from having a closer economic partnership with Russia, China is also forming stronger ties with Iran.
On February 14, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing.
Xi said China is ready to work with Iran to implement the comprehensive cooperation plan between the two countries, deepen practical cooperation in trade, agriculture, industry and infrastructure development, and import more high-quality agricultural products from Iran.
Raisi said Iran hopes to work with China to strengthen exchanges at all levels while the country is ready to strengthen communication with China on international and regional affairs.
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Follow Jeff Pao on Twitter at @jeffpao3