The Empresa Aeronáutica Nacional SA (Eansa) was sanctioned by the US. The company “maintains and supervises the assembly” of Mohajer series drones in Venezuela, which have intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the United States Department of the Treasury sanctioned this Tuesday the 30th a Venezuelan company, along with its president, related to the marketing of “unmanned aerial vehicles” (UAVs, better known as drones) from Iran.
Empresa Aeronáutica Nacional SA (Eansa), based in Maracay (Aragua state) was sanctioned by OFAC “for having assisted, sponsored or provided financial, material or technological support, or goods or services” to Qods Aviation Industries, an Iranian company in charge of producing unmanned aerial vehicles of the Mohajer series.
Also included among those sanctioned was its president, José Jesús Urdaneta González, who would reside in Venezuela, for acting on behalf of Eansa.
“Treasury holds Iran and Venezuela accountable for their aggressive and reckless proliferation of lethal weapons around the world,” said Treasury Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence John K. Hurley. “We will continue to take swift action to prevent those who facilitate Iran’s military-industrial complex from accessing the US financial system.”
The Eansa company, according to a press release of OFAC, “maintains and supervises the assembly” of Mohajer series drones in Venezuela, which have intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities.
In addition, the company was reported to directly negotiate Mohajer-6 unmanned aerial vehicles for millions of dollars with QAI.
The Treasury Department indicated that, since 2006, Iran and Venezuela have coordinated the supply of Qods Aviation Industries’ (QAI) Mohajer series unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to the country, which are renamed the ANSU series.
Eansa also maintains drones operated by the National Armed Forces, “including the Iranian Mohajer-2, known locally as Arpia or ANSU-100. The ANSU-100 is an updated and armed version of the Arpia-001, a direct derivative of QAI’s Mohajer-2 and the first UAV produced in Venezuela. “The ANSU-100 is capable of delivering Iranian-designed Qaem air-to-ground guided bombs.”
OFAC highlighted that the measure adds to the nonproliferation designations issued by the Treasury Department in October and November of this year, in support of the reimposition of United Nations sanctions and other restrictions on Iran.
«Iranian unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and missile programs threaten US personnel and its allies in the Middle East and destabilize commercial shipping in the Red Sea. Furthermore, the continued Iranian supply of conventional weapons to Caracas constitutes a threat to US interests in the Western Hemisphere, including its national territory, and the United States will use all measures at its disposal to prevent this trade,” it was assured.
*Journalism in Venezuela is carried out in a hostile environment for the press with dozens of legal instruments in place to punish the word, especially the laws “against hate”, “against fascism” and “against the blockade.” This content is being published taking into consideration the threats and limits that have consequently been imposed on the dissemination of information from within the country.
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