05 Jan 18. U.S. Imposes Sanctions on Iran Over Ballistic Missiles, Signals Further Measures. The United States imposed sanctions on Thursday on five Iranian entities over their involvement in developing ballistic missiles and signaled that more punitive measures are in play in response to the Islamic Republic’s crackdown of anti-government protests. The Daily Mail reported that the five designated companies are all subsidiaries of Iran’s Shahid Bakeri Industrial Group (SBIG), which is part of the Iranian Defense Ministry. Shahid is already under U.S. sanctions and the new designations ensure its subsidiaries are punished, too. U.S. Treasury Secretary, Steven Mnuchin, linked the measure to the ongoing anti-government protests, arguing that Iran ought to spend more on public welfare rather than sponsoring foreign wars and terrorism.
“These sanctions target key entities involved in Iran’s ballistic missile program, which the Iranian regime prioritizes over the economic well-being of the Iranian people,” Mnuchin said. “We will not hesitate to call out the regime’s economic mismanagement, and diversion of significant resources to fund threatening missile systems at the expense of its citizenry,” he added.
Munich continued: “As the Iranian people suffer, their government and the IRGC fund foreign militants, terrorist groups, and human rights abuses.” He also vowed that “The United States will continue to decisively counter the Iranian regime’s malign activity, including additional sanctions targeting human rights abuses.”
Earlier, the State Department had warned that Iranian officials involved in the arrest or killing of protesters would be held accountable. “We have ample authorities to hold accountable those who commit violence against protesters, contribute to censorship, or steal from the people of Iran,” U.S. spokeswoman Heather Nauert said. “To the regime’s victims, we say: ‘You will not be forgotten.”
Last month, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., Nikki Haley, presented evidence in the form of missile parts with logos suggesting they were manufactured by Shahid. According to Haley, the fragments were recovered after Iranian-backed Houthi rebels fired missiles at Saudi Arabia. (Source: theisraelproject.org)
05 Jan 18. Indian MoD suspends all business with Sanjay Bhandari’s firms as CBI probes Swiss aircraft deal. The defence ministry has suspended all business dealings with the companies of absconding arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari, who is facing cases for violating the Official Secrets Act as well as alleged financial crimes ranging from money laundering to corruption in arms deals.
The defence ministry’s vigilance wing on Friday issued an order to all departments and wings as well as the Army, IAF and Navy headquarters to suspend all business dealings with Bhandari’s flagship Offset India Solutions (Private) Ltd and all its group companies with immediate effect.
“The OIS Group’s response to a show-cause notice in June 2017 was not found satisfactory. So, business dealings with the OIS Group, its companies and functionaries will remain suspended for six months or until further orders, in accordance with the MoD guidelines issued in November 2016 to deal with such cases,” said an official.
The guidelines were promulgated “to ensure probity, transparency, propriety and compliance” in the defence procurement process. At present, MoD has debarred four major foreign and two Indian companies for 10 years, while business dealings are suspended with 13 other firms.
As for the case against OIS (P) Ltd, which handles offsets for several foreign companies, the CBI is investigating allegations of graft against Bhandari and his associate Bimal Sareen in the Rs 2,896 crore deal to procure 75 Swiss Pilatus PC-7 basic trainer aircraft (BTA) inked in May 2012. The propeller-driven Pilatus aircraft were an emergency purchase after IAF training schedule went haywire following the grounding of the entire fleet of the 114 old piston-engine