UK Sanctions On Tehran, Moscow ‘Taking The Wheels Off Russia’s War Machine’

Catherine Colonna told Reuters that the Iranian diplomat was also questioned over the treatment of seven French nationals who are currently in custody in Iran.

France’s foreign ministry on Monday also condemned the public execution of an Iranian who was sentenced to death following his participation in the protests currently under way in Iran.

The Islamic Republic hanged a second protester, Majidreza Rahnavard in less than a week in public on Monday after charging him with killing two members of security forces.

In a statement the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs of France stated, “this execution, the second in less than a week, comes in addition to the many other serious, unacceptable violations of fundamental rights and freedoms committed by the Iranian authorities.”

The statement also added that demonstrators must not be executed in response to the current protests in Iran, stressing France calls on Iranian authorities to halt these executions and to listen to the legitimate aspirations of the Iranian people.

Meanwhile, Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom said Tuesday that Iran and Russia's sordid deals threaten global security.

James Cleverly said in a tweet that “We are holding their desperate alliance to account.”

He also noted that London has just sanctioned high-level Russian and Iranian figures in response to the “abhorrent strikes against civilian targets.”

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said Monday that Moscow burns through its stockpiles to carry out its nearly 10-month-old invasion of Ukraine, but the old ammunition have a high failure rate.

“They have drawn from (Russia's) aging ammunition stockpile, which does indicate that they are willing to use that older ammunition, some of which was originally produced more than 40 years ago,” added the official.

The United States accuses Russia of turning to Iran and North Korea for more firepower as it exhausts its regular supplies of ammunition.

According to the senior military official, Russia would burn through its fully serviceable stocks of ammunition by early 2023 if it did not resort to foreign suppliers and older stocks.

Iran last month acknowledged it had supplied Moscow with drones, but said they were sent before the war in Ukraine.

The United States in mid-November imposed sanctions on companies and people being involved in the production or transfer of Iranian drones to Russia.

The EU foreign ministers on Monday hit out at Iran for supplying drones to Russia, saying the weapons are being used indiscriminately by Russia against Ukrainians.

Last month, the EU imposed sanctions on the chief of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, the IRGC’s Aerospace Force and a company making drones.

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell called the package “very tough,” and an EU foreign minister’s statement criticized a “brutal and disproportionate use of force” against protests. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the sanctions would target “in particular those who are responsible for the executions, the violence against innocent people...especially the Revolutionary Guards.”

Iran Monday executed the second person over the unrest, which has seen the deaths of 488 protestors and 62 members of the police or security forces, according to Norway-based HRANA.

Among those sanctioned Monday under the human-rights rubric were Major-General Abdolrahim Mousavi, commander-in-chief of Iran’s army. A range of designated regional commanders of the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) were largely concentrated in the mainly Kurdish northwest, which along with the Baluchi south east has seen the most violence. IRGC commanders in the provinces of Tehran, Mazandaran, Alborz, Markazi, were also listed along with Sistan-Baluchistan’s provincial police chief.

As well as designating state broadcaster IRIB, the EU listed Peyman Jebelli, its director, IRIB’s deputy director, its head of foreign services, and Ali Rezvani, who is a "journalist-interrogator" of political prisoners. Ahmad Khatami, Tehran prayer leader, was added, the EU statement said, as the cleric “with a large audience…leverages his position to verbally attack and incite violence against protesters.” All designated individuals risk the loss of assets in the EU.

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The EU in November sanctioned Hossein Salami, the IRGC commander, and Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commander of the IRGC aerospace force, as well as the aerospace force and a military company, over sending military drones to Russia, but the EU has not sanctioned the IRGC as a whole. The United States in 2019 listed the Guards as a ‘foreign terrorist organization’ as part of its ‘maximum pressure’ sanctions, the only occasion it has designated part of a state’s armed forces.

Under Monday’s new sanctions, the EU designated four additional individuals, including the head of Iran’s air force, over the drones, as well four military contractors or design companies.

The EU foreign ministers’ statement said the drones were “being used indiscriminately by Russia against Ukrainian civilian population and infrastructure causing horrendous destruction and human suffering.” The ministers agreed another €2 billion ($2.1 million) in military aid for Ukraine, adding to the €2 billion already sent, while a further package of sanctions on Russia, the EU’s ninth, is reportedly being held up by Hungary. The US has sent Ukraine $20 billion in weapons, and the UK $2.3 billion.

‘Turning Iran into a second North Korea’

The new EU sanctions on Iran over human rights abuses brought to 166 individuals and 12 entities the total it has sanctioned on such grounds. Those designated in the last batch on November 14 included provincial police commanders in Kurdish and Baluchi regions, the army’s ground-forces commander, the minister of the interior, and members of the Tehran ‘morality police.’

With the rial falling further as US ‘maximum pressure’ continues and unrest undermines business confidence, Hannah Neumann, a German Green Party member of the European Parliament, told Iran International in an interview she saw no justification for European states breaking off diplomatic links or expelling Tehran from United Nations bodies.

“I don’t think it helps protestors in Iran, if we turn the country into a second North Korea by closing all our embassies,” she said. “This is my personal opinion. Others have a different one. I respect that. Isn’t that what we all fight for, democracy and freedom of expression?”

Neumann claimed that “what is happening in Iran is the world’s first feminist revolution.” She said it would give hope to women in Egypt, Afghanistan and elsewhere in the Middle East as well as around the globe.

In a confidential warning to its clients seen by Iran International, London-based Lloyds Marine Insurance Company said that the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Hezbollah illegally send gold from Venezuela to Iran to finance the terrorist activities of Tehran-backed militias in Lebanon, bypassing sanctions.

The document issued on October 28 is titled: Illicit trade and transfer of gold and Iranian oil – IRGC Quds Force and Hezbollah.

“The purpose of this e-alert is to inform the market of the illicit shipment of gold by the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Hezbollah from Venezuela to Iran to raise funds for terrorist activities, facilitated by the sale of Iranian oil, in contravention of sanctions,” reads the letter.

Lloyds further added that flights from Caracas to Tehran via Mahan Air are being used as an illicit channel to ship gold to pay for Iranian oil, in breach of applicable sanctions.

Mahan Air is a privately owned Iranian airline linked to the IRGC sanctioned by US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) for weapons transfers.

“The gold is then sold in Turkey, and other Middle Eastern countries, to generate funds for terrorist activity,” the leaked document alleged.

Lloyds also identifies some people who have been easing the illegal shipment of gold from Venezuela on behalf of the IRGC Qods Force.

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The first actor, according to Lloyds, is Hezbollah’s representative in Iran Ali Kassir, who is also a US OFAC designee under the SDGT program (Global Sanctions Regulation against Terrorism).

The other is Muhammad Jaafar Kassir, who is a senior Hezbollah official also designated by OFAC for his illegal activities linked with the militant group.

The Iranian airline Mahan Air is introduced as the third actor in the unlawful acquisition and shipment of gold from Venezuela on behalf of the IRGC Quds Force.

World’s largest marine insurance company has also called on its clients to observe enhanced due diligence measures if any of the entities mentioned are involved, as the coverage provided could indirectly expose the managing agents to risks of terrorist financing, money laundering and tax evasion.

US former Special Representative for Venezuela, Elliot Abrams for the first time in April 2020 announced that Iran is receiving gold for sending gasoline to Caracas.

Iranian officials denied receiving payment for fuel shipped to Venezuela by that time. However, Yahya Rahim-Safavi, a top Revolutionary Guards officer, who is Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's advisor in military affairs, told state media later in 2020 that “We gave gasoline to Venezuela and received gold bullion and we brought the gold with airplanes to Iran to prevent any incident during transit.”

Argentina grounded an Iran-linked Venezuelan Boeing 747 cargo plane on June 12, 2022 after it landed in Buenos Aires without any prior announcements.

Washington on August 3 asked permission to confiscate the plane impounded in Argentina on suspicions of links to international terrorist groups.

Based on revealed documents, there are other airplanes that are used for taking gold from Caracas to Tehran, but the seizure and future confiscation of the Boeing, which is already in Ezeiza airport in Buenos Aires, is a major step to erode Hezbollah’s economic resources.

The illegal gold sale operation revealed by the Lloyd’s company was also facilitated by a fixer called Seyed Badroddin Naiemael Moosavi.

The 47-year-old Iranian businessman controlled the load of gold that he obtained at a discounted price in exchange for the oil shipments to Venezuela. He was the person, who sold the golds on the black market in Turkey, and as a result millions of dollars were used to finance Hezbollah’s terrorist acts in the Middle East.

"We are going to approve a very tough package of sanctions", Josep Borrell said. "(The EU) will take any action we can to support young women and peaceful demonstrators."

EU foreign ministers meeting on Monday will try to agree on new sanctions on Iran over human rights violations and supply of drones to Russia.

A package of new sanctions is on the agenda for Iranian individuals and organizations over human rights abuses in Tehran’s deadly crackdown on protesters and its supply of drones to Russia.

The Islamic Republic Monday publicly hanged a second protesterarrested last month, which might force the EU to be tougher in its decisions.

New sanctions against Russia are also on the agenda, however, it remained unclear whether Hungary will block some decisions, resorting to what diplomats denounced as “blackmail diplomacy” due to a dispute over locked EY funds for Budapest.

"There is agreement, in principle, but there's also the big elephant in the room," a senior EU diplomat told reporters, referring to Budapest's use of its veto power. "It's a type of blackmail diplomacy that we would rather not see but it is what it is."