THE UK Government has imposed sanctions against senior Iranian military figures and organisations following the country’s attack on Israel earlier this month.
Members of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army, Iran’s air force and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Intelligence Organisation have been targeted with travel bans and asset freezes, the Foreign Office said on Monday.
Farzanegan Propulsion Systems Design Bureau (FPSDB), which designs and manufactures parts that can be used in cruise missiles, has also been designated as part of the package of measures.
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The Iranian Space Agency, which develops technologies that have applications in ballistic missile development, will be subject to an asset freeze.
The sanctions come after Iran launched around 200 ballistic missiles towards Israel on October 1. Most were intercepted but a number hit central and southern Israel, the country’s military said.
The UK Government has not issued any sanctions for senior Israeli military figures since the country began its military offensive in Gaza last year, which has so far killed more than 42,000 Palestinians.
Last month, Foreign Secretary David Lammy (below) hinted at the possibility of sanctioning two members of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government as a result of escalating violence in the West Bank.
The UK Government suspended around 30 arms sales to Israel in September over concerns they could be used in violations of international humanitarian law in the Gaza conflict.
However, it faces calls to go further and ban the sale of parts for deadly F-35 jets made in Britain, which Israel has used in its bombardment of Gaza.
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More than 400 sanctions were imposed on Iran on Monday, including designations against the IRGC on its entirety.
Notable figures to be sanctioned include Abdolrahim Mousavi, commander-in chief of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army and a member of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, and Hamid Vahedi, commander of the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force.
Lammy vowed the UK would “continue to take necessary measures to challenge Iran’s unacceptable threats and press for de-escalation across the region”.
He said: “Following its ballistic missile attack on Israel, we are holding Iran to account and exposing those who facilitated these acts.
“Alongside allies and partners, we will continue to take necessary measures to challenge Iran’s unacceptable threats and press for de-escalation across the region.”
It comes as an Israeli air strike on a hospital courtyard in Gaza on Monday morning burned at least four people alive and left more than two dozen others with severe burns, after fire swept through a tent camp for people displaced by the war.
Without evidence, Israel claimed it had been targeting militants hiding among civilians at a camp for displaced people at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central city of Deir al-Balah.
Former first minister Humza Yousaf (above) condemned the attack, saying: “Every day, we witness unimaginable horrors and a complete disregard for international law.
“No sanctions, just more arms. Failure and complicity, all the while human beings are being burned alive in front of our eyes.
“When our children ask us how we let such atrocities occur, what will we tell them? For shame.”
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