Iran’s Mahan Air smuggled two Airbus A340 planes, owned by Gambian leasing company Macka Invest, into Iran as they flew from Lithuania to Sri Lanka and the Philippines. The aircraft operators switched off the planes' automatic transponders after entering Iranian airspace, but aviation data shows they landed in Tehran and Chabahar. Authorities at the Lithuanian airport prevented a third Macka Invest airplane, which carried spare parts, from taking off after learning that the first had diverted to Iran.
News Briefs
June 20, 2024
-- Lithuanian Radio and Television
June 19, 2024
Canada listed Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization, prohibiting financial or material support to the group and allowing asset freezes on the entity.
-- Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty
June 16, 2024
The Houthi rebels in Yemen have continued their attacks on ships in the Red Sea, recently damaging two vessels. The crew of the Greek-owned Tutor abandoned ship after it was struck by a drone boat, the first successful use of this type of weapon by the Houthis. Similarly, the Ukrainian-owned Verbena was abandoned by its crew following Houthi missile strikes. While a U.S.-led naval coalition continues its military operation to degrade the group's capabilities, it continues to find new ways to procure weapons. The Houthis have recently opened a new smuggling route from Iran through Djibouti and have sourced Chinese drone parts from Lebanon.
-- Wall Street Journal
June 14, 2024
Following a formal censure by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors over its nuclear program, Iran began feeding uranium into three new cascades of advanced IR-4 and IR-6 centrifuges at the Natanz enrichment facility. It also plans to install 18 more cascades of IR-2m centrifuges at Natanz and eight cascades of IR-6 centrifuges at Fordow.
-- Associated Press
June 6, 2024
Yemen’s Houthi rebels fired a new type of solid-fuel missile called “Palestine” at Israel’s Eilat port. The Houthis claimed the weapon was locally made, but its design elements resembled those of missiles developed by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, including the hypersonic Fattah system.
-- Associated Press
June 5, 2024
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors passed a resolution calling on Iran to increase cooperation with the agency and to reverse the barring of IAEA inspectors. Russia and China voted against the resolution, while twelve other countries abstained.
-- Reuters
June 3, 2024
Whistleblowers allegedly found billions of dollars' worth of previously undetected transactions between UK-based Standard Chartered (StanChart) and Iran-linked entities and terrorist organizations. The transactions happened between 2008 and 2013, after the bank said it would cease business with Iran in 2007. The whistleblowers made their claims in a U.S. federal court filing and highlighted transactions with a front company owned by Mohammad Bazzi, a Hizbollah financier, as well as with a Pakistani fertilizer company that allegedly sold explosive materials to the Taliban. StanChart has already paid more than two billion dollars in penalties for sanctions violations and due diligence failures.
-- Financial Times
May 31, 2024
The European Union sanctioned Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters and one of its commanders for its role in coordinating Iran’s military operations, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Navy (IRGC-N) for involvement in weapon, missile, and UAV deliveries to Yemen’s Houthi rebels and Lebanon’s Hizballah, and Iran-based Kavan Electronics Behrad which procured and sold components for Iranian UAVs. The European Union also sanctioned Defense Minister Mohammadreza Ashtiani, IRGC Quds Force commander Esmail Qaani, and Afshin Khajifard, the director of the Iranian Aviation Industries Organization.
-- RFE/RL
May 31, 2024
The United States sanctioned a network of entities connected to Rayan Roshd Afzar Company for their involvement in Iran's UAV industry. These included Rayan Fan Kav Andish Co (RFKA), Kish Mechatronics Co., Fanavarihaye Hava Pishran Sazeh Sepehr Co LLC (HPSS), and Mersad Mohajer CO LLC. The United States also sanctioned Afshin Khajeh Fard, who is the chief of Iran Aviation Industries Organization (IAIO) and oversees Iran’s drone and missile production efforts.
-- U.S. Department of the Treasury
May 29, 2024
Iran has provided the Houthi rebels in Yemen with the technical knowledge to produce anti-ship ballistic missiles. The Houthis had previously converted surface-to-air missiles that they had taken from the Yemeni government into surface-to-surface missiles, calling them the Qaher-2 and Qaher-2M. The Houthis' anti-ship Muhit missile is patterned after the Qaher but is equipped with an optical seeker for homing on ships.
-- Tasnim News Agency