The United States on Tuesday imposed a new round of sanctions targeting a network of Iranian and Venezuelan individuals and companies accused of facilitating the transfer of military technology between the two countries, including the production of combat drones used by Venezuela’s armed forces.
The measures, announced by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, target 10 individuals and entities linked to what U.S. officials describe as a growing military partnership between Tehran and Caracas. The sanctions focus on companies involved in the production of Iranian-designed unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, and on procurement networks supplying chemical components for Iran’s ballistic missile program.
“Treasury is holding Iran and Venezuela accountable for their aggressive and reckless proliferation of deadly weapons around the world,” said Treasury Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence John K. Hurley. “We will continue to take swift action to deprive those who enable Iran’s military-industrial complex access to the U.S. financial system.”
At the center of the action is Venezuela-based Empresa Aeronáutica Nacional S.A. (EANSA), which U.S. officials say has worked directly with Iran’s Qods Aviation Industries to assemble and maintain Iranian-designed drones on Venezuelan soil. According to Treasury, EANSA has supported the production of Mohajer-series unmanned aircraft — rebranded in Venezuela as the ANSU series — and facilitated multimillion-dollar purchases of the systems.
The Mohajer-6, one of the models cited, is a combat drone capable of surveillance and precision strikes using guided munitions. U.S. officials say the aircraft are operated by Venezuela’s military and represent a significant expansion of Iran’s military footprint in the Western Hemisphere.
EANSA’s chairman, José Jesús Urdaneta González, was also sanctioned for coordinating directly with Iranian and Venezuelan defense officials. Treasury said the company oversaw the assembly of Mohajer-2 and Mohajer-6 variants at Venezuelan facilities, including work conducted at El Libertador Air Base.
The designations are part of a broader U.S. effort to disrupt Iran’s global weapons supply chains and curb what Washington describes as Tehran’s increasing reliance on proxy networks and foreign partners to evade international restrictions.
They also come amid an intensifying pressure campaign against Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro, whose regime the United States accuses of running the so-called “Cartel of the Suns,” a network of military and political figures allegedly involved in large-scale drug trafficking. U.S. authorities have offered a reward of up to $50 million for information leading to Maduro’s arrest on charges including narco-terrorism and conspiracy.
The Treasury Department said the latest sanctions also target an Iranian procurement network accused of sourcing sensitive materials for Iran’s ballistic missile program. Those materials include sodium perchlorate, ammonium perchlorate precursors and nitrocellulose, all key components in solid-fuel rocket motors.
Among those sanctioned is Mostafa Rostami Sani, an Iranian businessman accused of coordinating the acquisition of missile-related chemicals for Parchin Chemical Industries, a subsidiary of Iran’s Defense Industries Organization. U.S. officials allege he worked through intermediaries in multiple countries to evade international restrictions.
Several additional companies tied to Iran’s defense sector were also designated, including Pardisan Rezvan Shargh, Fanavari Electro Moj Mobin and Kavoshgaran Asman Moj Ghadir. Treasury officials said the firms played critical roles in supplying components and technical expertise to Iran’s missile and drone programs while masking their activities through complex corporate structures.
The measures were imposed under executive orders targeting weapons of mass destruction proliferators and entities involved in Iran’s conventional arms trade. As a result, all property and interests of the designated parties under U.S. jurisdiction are frozen, and U.S. persons are generally barred from doing business with them. Foreign financial institutions that knowingly facilitate significant transactions risk secondary sanctions.
Treasury officials said the action reflects growing concern over Iran’s expanding military cooperation with Venezuela, which U.S. officials view as a destabilizing factor in the Western Hemisphere.
The partnership dates back more than a decade. In 2012, then-President Hugo Chávez unveiled Venezuela’s first domestically produced drones, presenting them as symbols of technological sovereignty. Only later did details emerge about Iran’s role in supplying technology, training and components.
That cooperation deepened over time. Iranian technicians helped establish production lines in Venezuela, and the program gradually expanded from surveillance drones to armed platforms. After a 2018 drone attack targeting Maduro, the Venezuelan government accelerated investment in unmanned systems, citing security concerns.
In recent years, Venezuela has unveiled armed drones such as the ANSU-100 and experimental stealth variants, becoming the first country in Latin America to field indigenous armed UAVs. U.S. officials say the developments have raised alarms that Iranian technology could be transferred to allied governments or non-state actors in the region.
The issue has taken on added urgency as the United States increases its naval presence in the Caribbean, officially for counternarcotics operations, while Venezuela conducts military exercises and drone patrols. Washington views the growing Iranian footprint in the region as a strategic challenge with implications far beyond bilateral tensions.
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