US targets Belarus, Russia and Nigeria in fresh sanctions over Iran weapons network

The United States has imposed sanctions on two individuals and one entity located in Belarus, Russia, and Nigeria regarding their alleged involvement in Iranian efforts to acquire man-portable air-defence systems (MANPADS), according to People Daily Kenya.

The Indian Express reports that the U.S. Treasury Department has also sanctioned an Indian couple, Suniel Kumar Sharma and Jaspret Preeti Shahid, for alleged maritime fraud. The couple is accused of defrauding maritime regulatory administrations to establish false flagging authorities and maritime classification societies from Chandigarh.

These schemes purportedly allowed an Iranian shadow fleet, including vessels operating for the Iranian military and its proxies, to evade international restrictions by representing nations ranging from Guyana to Laos. According to The Indian Express, the couple's activities reportedly began in 2014 by impersonating the flagging authority of Dominica, and in 2023, Sharma established the Singapore-based Eswatini Maritime Affairs and International Ship Regist.

Brief written by urgent.news from People Daily Kenya, The Indian Express, The Economic Times - Economy — 3 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.