US designates entity subordinate to Iran’s military firm

Washington, Dec 4 : The US Treasury Department has imposed sanctions against an Iranian entity and its director allegedly related to Iran’s chemical weapons research.
In a statement on Thursday, the Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated Shahid Meisami Group and its director Mehran Babri.
The Shahid Meisami Group is “involved in Iran’s chemical weapons research and is subordinate to the Iranian Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research, also known as SPND”, the statement said.
The US had designated SPND in 2014 in connection with the Iranian regime’s proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) or their means of delivery.
The Group “has been responsible for numerous SPND projects, the cost of which totalled in the millions of US dollars”, the statement said.
These projects include testing and producing chemical agents and optimising them for effectiveness and toxicity for use as incapacitation agents, it added.