U.S. Blacklists 26 Entities for Backing Weapons Programs in Pakistan and Iran

The United States government has designated more than 26 entities on Monday to its trade blacklist for their role in the production of weapons and drone programs in Iran and Pakistan, and support for Russia’s military operations in Ukraine.

Most of the newly designated targets are located in Pakistan, China, and the United Arab Emirates. The US Commerce Department noted that these entities have reportedly engaged in violating export controls, “weapons programs of concern,” and have evaded American sanctions and export rules that are targeting Russia and Iran.

Membership of these organizations in the so-called “entity list” means that they cannot purchase any goods or technologies originating from the United States except after obtaining permission from the government, leaving the countries to exert increasing control over international trade practices concerning strategic military technologies.

“We are vigilant in defending U.S. national security from bad actors,” Alan Estevez, undersecretary of commerce for industry and security, said in a statement.

“Our actions today send a message to malicious actors that if they violate our controls, they will pay a price,” he added.

Nine Pakistani organizations have been identified as procurement agents and front organizations for the Advanced Engineering Research Organization, which is already on the blacklist. These businesses, one of which is a Pakistani agency involved in the country’s cruise missile and strategic drone program, are accused of ordering commodities of U.S. origin while hiding the end users since 2010.

The Commerce Department said, “This activity is contrary to the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States.”

Six entities in China were also included in the blacklist for allegedly procuring U.S.-origin goods to boost China’s military capability and Iran’s weapon and drone development among others.

Furthermore, three entities in the United Arab Emirates and one in Egypt have been accused of buying or trying to buy American parts in violation of sanctions set after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, according to the department.

The Commerce Department also removed the entity list designation from Canada-based Sandvine, after the company’s measures “to address the misuse of its technology that can undermine human rights.” Sandvine was put on the trade restriction list in February 2024 after the company was accused of helping the Egyptian government track human rights activists and politicians.

The company was added “after its products were used to conduct mass web monitoring and censorship and target human rights activists and dissidents, including by enabling the misuse of commercial spyware,” the Commerce Department noted.

Sandvine specializes in deep packet inspection technology that deals with analyzing and controlling the traffic in a network and has worked with the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority in the past.