US Sanctions Global Network Supporting Irans Mahan Air and IRGC

An Airbus A340-600 airplane of Mahan Air is seen at Simón Bolívar International Airport outside Caracas, Venezuela, on April 8, 2019. Carlos Garcia Rawlins/ReutersThe U.S. federal government on Thursday designated six entities and individuals in China, India, Russia, and Iran for their support of the sanctioned Iranian airline Mahan Air and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) targeted companies acting as general sales agents for Mahan Air and an IRGC-affiliated front company.The Treasury said Mahan Air, though portrayed as a civilian carrier, has long assisted the IRGC by providing travel services for IRGC-Qods Force personnel, facilitating military training, and supporting Iran’s procurement and transport of unmanned aerial vehicle systems and weapons.“Those who provide financial services, logistics, or commercial support to the IRGC or Mahan Air are helping sustain a terrorist enterprise,” Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent said in a statement. “Treasury will continue to identify them, expose them, and cut them off from the U.S. financial system.”The Treasury said the designations further undermine the network upon which Iran’s destabilizing activities across the region are based.The move comes amid wider efforts to increase economic pressure on the Iranian regime and the IRGC, particularly in the wake of attacks against regional states and commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz after the collapse of a ceasefire between the United States and Iran. OFAC also sanctioned an IRGC-affiliated front company that has backed Iran’s kinetic targeting during the ongoing conflict.The designations target terrorist groups and their supporters. It aligns with President Donald Trump’s National Security Presidential Memorandum 2, which directs the U.S. government to deny the IRGC access to assets and resources that support its destabilizing activities.Mahan Air was first designated by OFAC on Oct. 12, 2011, for collaborating with Iran’s IRGC-Qods Force, which was designated in October 2007.Among those designated Thursday are China-based Shanghai Wings International Logistics Co., which serves as a general sales agent for Mahan Air and has coordinated the transport of electronics from China to Iran.China-based Tang Xin, managing director of Shanghai Wings, has coordinated travel for Mahan Air. Tang Xin is also the executive director and 50 percent owner of China-based Shanghai Elite International Travel Co., which represents Mahan Air in China.India-based Skiez Travels and Logistics Private Limited and Russia-based Air Cargo Pro Limited also function as general sales agents for Mahan Air in India and Russia, respectively.In addition, OFAC designated DadeNegar Startup Studio, described as a front company tied to Iran’s IRGC. DadeNegar solicited locations of American and Israeli equipment to support Iranian military targeting, including fielding strike requests for U.S. targets in the Middle East.The designations mean all property and interests in property of the designated persons that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons are barred and must be reported to OFAC.