Europe slaps drone sanctions against Iran

• For providing Russia with lethal “kamikaze” drones to attack Ukraine.
• Iran is now subject to a slew of new European penalties.
• On Wednesday, sanctions experts from the 27-member EU bloc decided to blacklist Shahed Aviation Industries, two top military officers, and Brig.

For providing Russia with lethal “kamikaze” drones to attack Ukraine, Iran is now subject to a slew of new European penalties.

On Wednesday, sanctions experts from the 27-member EU bloc decided to blacklist Shahed Aviation Industries, two top military officers, and Brig. Gen. Saeed Aghajani, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps who is in charge of Iran’s drone programme.

The sanctions, including asset freezes and travel bans, are expected to be approved by European governments on Thursday. “On the drone question, indeed there are new listings under preparation that should be adopted during the week,” French President Emmanuel Macron’s spokesman said on Wednesday.

“If Iran walks like a duck, talks like a duck and admits to supplying drones to the biggest duck in the world then I think we have enough evidence to say that Iran is a duck. Let’s sanction the duck out of them,” Lithuania’s Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said.

A flurry of Shahed-136 suicide drone assaults targeting people and energy infrastructure have rocked Ukraine. Since the first one was fired on September 13, its military claimed on Wednesday to have shot down more than 220 of the Iranian-made weaponry.

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A thermal power plant in the western Ukrainian city of Burshtyn was struck by a Russian missile strike on Wednesday, the most recent in a string of assaults on vital infrastructure that has rendered roughly a third of the nation’s capacity to generate electricity inoperable just before winter.

At a Wednesday UN Security Council meeting that is held behind closed doors, the US, Britain, and France will bring up the matter of Iranian arms supplies to Russia. Resolution 2231, which supported the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, is viewed by Western powers as being broken by the export and purchase of drones.

On Wednesday, Israel made the offer to assist Ukraine in creating air attack warning systems for people. Israel has restricted its help to Ukraine to humanitarian aid despite condemning the Russian aggression.

Defense Minister Benny Gantz said Israel had asked Ukraine “to share information about their needs for air defense alerts,” and Israel would be able to “assist in the development of a lifesaving civilian early warning system.”

When missiles are launched, Israel’s radar network activates sirens or smartphone notifications to advise residents to take cover. Ukraine may be offered similar early warning systems, according to a defence ministry official for Israel.

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