U.S. sanctions Venezuela's state-owned drone manufacturer for trading arms with Iran

Washington.- The United States sanctioned this Tuesday the Empresa Aeronáutica Nacional S.A. (EANSA), the state-owned drone manufacturer of Venezuela, and its president, José Jesús Urdaneta González, as part of a package of new actions against a dozen people and entities involved in the buying and selling of weapons between Venezuela and Iran. Washington has decided to sanction "10 individuals and entities based in Venezuela and Iran, including a Venezuelan company that has contributed to the trade of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) between Iran and Venezuela," the US Treasury Department reported in a statement. These new sanctions are in addition to those announced by the U.S. last October and November against international companies for allegedly supporting Iran's ballistic missile and drone manufacturing program and coincide with the increased pressure on the government of the president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro.

U.S. explained its sanction of the Venezuelan drone manufacturer

"Iran's continued supply of conventional weapons to Caracas poses a threat to U.S. interests in the Western Hemisphere, including national security, and the U.S. will use all available measures to prevent this trade," the Treasury insisted. According to Washington, EANSA "is in charge of the maintenance and supervision of the assembly" in Venezuela of the Mohajer drones from the Iranian state defense company Qods Aviation Industries (QAI), with which it has maintained business since 2006. He has also contributed to the sale for "millions of dollars to Venezuela" of Mohajer-6 series UAVs, a combat drone with intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities manufactured by QAI. The U.S. directly accuses Urdaneta of coordinating the production of Iranian drones in Venezuela. Sanctions will also apply to three Iran-based individuals for helping to procure chemicals used for ballistic missiles for an Iranian state-owned company.

Connection with Iran

In addition, the new package includes two other entities and three individuals for their connection to Rayan Fan Kav Andish Co (RFKA, or Rayan Fan Group), a US-sanctioned corporation that groups various Iranian high-tech companies. These actions block all assets in the U.S. of those sanctioned and prohibit U.S. citizens from any transactions with them. The U.S. President, Donald Trump, has maintained since August a large air and naval deployment in the Caribbean, near Venezuelan waters, which, according to him, aims to combat drug trafficking, but which Caracas interprets as "threats" and an attempt to bring about a change of regime. Tensions have escalated in recent weeks after Trump ordered a blockade of sanctioned oil tankers moving to and from the South American nation and the recent announcement of an attack on a pier within Venezuelan territory allegedly used for drug trafficking. With Iran, an ally of Caracas, the president sought a new nuclear agreement at the beginning of his second term, but negotiations broke down in June and the U.S. joined that same month in the Israeli bombings against nuclear facilities of the Islamic Republic.