Britain imposes sanctions on Iran over the October 1 attack on Israel

Iran claimed it was retaliation for Israel’s killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, but democratic nations including the United States and Britain condemned the attack as reckless and that it threatened to spread the war across the region.

Israel, in turn, promised to take revenge. Israel’s allies called for calm – from both sides – while using their financial vices as punishment for Iran.

“Following the ballistic missile attack on Israel, we are holding Iran to account and exposing those who enabled these acts,” British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said in a statement on Monday.

“Together with allies and partners, we will continue to take necessary actions to counter Iran’s unacceptable threats and push for de-escalation.”

Of the seven designations made on Monday, Houssein Pourfarzaneh is the only civilian.

He is chief engineer at Farzanegan Propulsion Systems, a company that develops and manufactures engine technology for cruise missiles.

He and his company were already hit by US sanctions in September because Iran had supplied engine samples to Russian weapons manufacturers to support their development of cruise missiles.

The other company blacklisted by Britain on Monday was the Iranian space agency due to its development of launch technologies for ballistic missile deployment. The United States imposed sanctions on the supposedly civilian space agency and two of its research facilities in 2019 over their support of Iran’s weapons of mass destruction programs.

Sanctions were imposed on the following Iranian military officials on Monday: Abdolrahim Mousavi, commander-in-chief of the Army of the Islamic Republic of Iran and member of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council; Mohammad-Hossein Dadras, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Army of the Islamic Republic of Iran; Hamid Vahedi, commander of the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force; Mohammad Kazemi, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps; Habibollah Sayyari, Chief of the Joint Staff of the Iranian Army and Deputy Chief for Coordination of the Iranian Army; and Ali-Mohammad Naini, IRGC spokesman.

Britain has imposed more than 400 sanctions against Iran, including many related to Tehran’s recent attack on Israel. The sanctions include an asset freeze and travel bans for those affected.

Iran and Israel have long been engaged in a proxy war that erupted openly on October 7, 2023, when Iran-backed Hamas launched a bloody attack on Israel in Gaza, killing about 1,200 Israelis and kidnapping another 251.

Israel responded with a brutal attack on Gaza that killed tens of thousands of Palestinians.

Emboldened by the conflict, other militias supporting Iran, notably Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen, sought to take advantage and also attacked Israel.