US targets Iran’s drone, missile programs as UN restrictions expire

Al-Monitor — The Biden administration unveiled new measures Wednesday to counter Iran’s proliferation of missiles and drones, as well as its destabilizing regional behavior, following the lapse of the United Nations’ prohibitions on Tehran’s missile-related activities. 

The administration announced sanctions on more than 20 individuals and entities based in Iran, Hong Kong, China, Venezuela and Russia that it said were providing support to the Iranians’ ballistic missile and drone programs. 

Senior State Department officials said the designations would not only squeeze those programs, but constrain Iran’s military relationships with countries like Russia, which said it would no longer comply with UN restrictions on Iran’s missile program following their expiration on Wednesday. 

For more than a year, Western powers have accused Tehran of helping replenish Moscow’s supply of weaponized drones to attack Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure and military targets. Those hit with US sanctions on Wednesday included the Iran-based Sarmad Electronic Sepahan Company that, according to the Treasury Department, produced components found in Iranian Mohajer-6 drones that were downed by Ukrainian forces. 

In addition to the “destructive result” of Iranian drones in Ukraine, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement the US remains concerned by the “horrific impact” of Iran’s supply of missiles and drones to terrorist organizations and proxies “that directly threaten the security of Israel and our Gulf partners.”

Under the terms of UN Security Council Resolution 2231, which enshrined the now-defunct 2015 nuclear deal, some restrictions on Iran were to expire on Oct. 18, including a ban on its import and export of missiles and drones with a range of 300 kilometers or more. 

The accord’s European signatories — Britain, France and Germany — chose not to invoke the “snapback” mechanism under 2231 as the nuclear deal’s critics had hoped, which would have forced a return of terminated UN sanctions. The three European powers instead transferred the UN restrictions that were set to expire into their domestic sanctions regimes last month.  

The ability for one or more of the nuclear deal’s participants to call for a snapback of sanctions itself expires in October 2025. The Trump administration withdrew from the nuclear accord in 2018, and Biden officials say the United States lacks the authority to snapback sanctions. 

Briefing reporters Wednesday on condition of anonymity, a senior State Department official said the new US sanctions were taken in coordination with partners to send “a very clear message” to Iran that it is “not business as usual.” 

“The fact that UN 2231 has been lifted, that has no effect on us letting up any pressure on Iran,” the official said. “We are incredibly concerned about what Iran is doing to destabilize the region.” 

The Biden administration on Wednesday also issued new guidance to private industry regarding the electronics and other dual-use components that Iran is seeking to bolster its missile program.       

It additionally released a joint statement endorsed by more than 45 countries, including Canada and European allies, underscoring their commitment to preventing “the supply, sale, or transfer of ballistic missile-related items.” 

But following Wednesday’s expiration, Behnam Ben Taleblu, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said to expect more, not less, missile testing and proliferation from Iran. 

“Targeting Tehran’s drone and missile procurers, producers and proliferators is necessary but not sufficient to counter Iran’s evolving unmanned aerial threats,” Taleblu said, adding that the lapse of UN penalties “will feed into Iranian assessments of Western risk aversion.”

The US moves came amid growing bipartisancongressional pressure for the Biden administration to punish Iran over the deadly assault on Israel carried out by Gaza-based group Hamas. US officials say Iran is broadly complicit in the attack due to the significant financial and material support it provides the Palestinian militants, but they do not have evidence suggesting Tehran played a direct role in the planning.  

As a condition of its prisoner exchange with the United States last month, Iran gained limited access to $6 billion of its oil revenue that was effectively frozen in South Korea due to US sanctions. The funds were wired to a restricted account in Qatar, where US officials say Iran can use them for food, medicine, medical devices and agricultural products under strict Treasury Department supervision.

Following the Hamas attack in Israel, the US and Qatari governments have reportedly agreed to prevent Iran from accessing the $6 billion fund.

“Not a penny of that money has been spent,” the senior State Department official said. “We do not expect this money to move anytime soon.”