US Sanctions Chinese People, Entities for Aiding Iranian Missile Procurement

The U.S. announced new sanctions this week against people and entities in China, Hong Kong and Iran for helping Iran procure “sensitive and critical parts and technology” for its ballistic missile programs. The “network” has also helped the Iranian government conduct financial transactions in support of its missile development efforts and aided the country’s Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics (MODAFL), as well as other affiliated procurement organizations, the Office of Foreign Assets Control said.

Among those sanctioned was China-based Zhejiang Qingji Ind. Co., which has sold centrifuges and other equipment and services worth “several hundreds of thousands of dollars” to Iran’s Parchin Chemicals Industries (PCI). Li Zeming, a Zhejiang Qingji employee, “personally negotiated and executed” the sales, and Shen Weisheng, the company’s director and general manager, has also carried out Zhejiang Qingji’s centrifuge deals.

OFAC also sanctioned Hong Kong-based Lingoe Process Engineering Limited, which it said is a front company for Zhejiang Qingji in its commercial dealings with PCI and P.B. Sadr, PCI’s “key” procurement intermediary. Iran-based transportation company Blue Calm Marine Services Company has helped to facilitate some of those shipments, the agency said.

Hong Kong Ke.Do International Trade Co., Limited, based in Hong Kong, and Qingdao Zhongrongtong Trade Development Co., Ltd., based in mainland China, have sold “tens of millions of dollars’ worth” of dual-use, “nonferrous metals” to P.B. Sadr, OFAC said. China-based Wei Zunyi manages both companies, Qin Xutong is the “commercial manager” of Hong Kong Ke.Do, and Gong Jiao helped facilitate Wei’s metals sales to P.B. Sadr.

OFAC said China-based Beijing Shiny Nights Technology Development Co., Ltd. operates as a front company for Iran’s Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics and procures electronics for Iranian end-users. The company has also bought accelerometers and gyroscopes “likely on behalf” of Iranian defense and missile end-users and has helped buy equipment for Iran Electronics Industries, OFAC said. China-based Ghasem Haghighat, an Iranian national, is the director and shareholder of the company.

The agency also sanctioned Iran’s Defense Attaché in Beijing, Davoud Damghani, who has coordinated defense purchases from China for customers in Iran, including subsidiaries of the country's defense logistics ministry. Damghani has coordinated purchases of accelerometers, gyroscopes and metals for Iran.

Brian Nelson, Treasury’s undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, said the U.S. “will continue to target illicit transnational procurement networks that covertly support Iran’s ballistic missile production and other military programs.”