Australia Sanctions Iran Officials, Entities

Australia sanctioned several Iranian senior government and military officials, businesspeople and companies linked to the country’s “destabilising behaviour” of its missile and drone programs, which has “fostered instability across the region for many years,” Australia’s foreign affairs ministry said this week. Among the designations are Mohammad Reza Ashtiani, Iran’s defense minister, and Esmail Qaani, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Qods Force. Australia also sanctioned the IRGC Navy, which it said wrongly seized an Israeli-linked and Portuguese-flagged civilian ship in international waters on April 13.

Australia said it has now sanctioned 90 people and 100 entities with ties to Iran. Its latest designations are “in line with sanctions measures taken by our partners in recent weeks, following Iran’s unprecedented drone and missile attack on Israel in April,” the country said, adding that it will “continue to deliberately and strategically apply pressure on Iran to cease its disruptive activities and adhere to international law.”