Iran is using a secret network of front companies to dodge international sanctions and rebuild its
army of kamikaze drones, an intelligence firm has revealed.
The scale of Tehran’s covert operation is exposed in a new report that says the
Islamic regime is “systematically” exploiting global supply chains to circumvent trade restrictions.
It claims that an Iranian company acts as a “dealer” for firms linked to China’s People’s Liberation Army and Russian organised crime to ship parts for Iran’s Shahed drones. The unmanned aircraft have caused chaos
in Ukraine and across the Gulf in recent weeks.
The operation is believed to have evaded scrutiny by Western governments, with the companies involved in Iran, China and Hong Kong not yet sanctioned.
The report by Strider Technologies, an intelligence firm known to employ former security services staff, also exposes how Iran uses a network of “transhipment hubs” across Turkey, India, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Costa Rica and the United Arab Emirates to “obscure” the final destination of its smuggled parts.
Sanctions from numerous countries aim to limit Tehran’s ability to produce drones by targeting most of the regime’s primary drone manufacturers: Shahed Aviation Industries, Qods Aviation Industries and HESA.
Despite this, Iran has still been able to fire an estimated 3,600 drones at countries across the Gulf since
Israel and the US began strikes at the end of February. The Shahed-136 loitering munition has become the “signature system” of Tehran’s arsenal.
“Even under sweeping international sanctions, Iran sustains its drone production through a global network of front companies and commercial intermediaries procuring dual-use foreign components,” Strider’s report said.
Researchers from the intelligence group identified Pars Aero Institute Kerman, an Iranian drone supplier with documented ties to the Islamic Republic’s military, as key to supplying Tehran with unmanned war machines.
The firm operates as a drone “dealer” for Foxtech Hobby Co, which is based in Hong Kong. It also uses Huixinghai Technology (Tianjin) Co in China to source other key parts. None of the three is sanctioned by the West.
Pars Aero previously supplied spy drones to the Iranian army and has ties to Iran Aviation Industries, which was sanctioned by the US in 2013.
Huixinghai Technology, which ships drones to Pars, is deeply ingrained within the Chinese military and law enforcement.
It has links to the Chinese army, having aided in the regime’s drone programme and is partnered with Beihang University, which the US department of commerce has outlawed because of its previous involvement in developing Chinese rockets and drones.
Foxtech shares its Hong Kong address with three companies previously sanctioned by the US, including two barred in 2023 for acting as shell firms with “suspected links to Russian organised crime and money laundering” and a third for “facilitating international transactions on behalf of Iranian entities”.
Together, the two companies provide commercial drone parts for Pars, which then distributes them globally, effectively evading Western sanctions.
According to Strider, the network is so effective that it has sourced foreign parts from unwitting companies worldwide.
One South Korean component, recovered from a Houthi unmanned aerial vehicle recently fired from Yemen, was traced back to a Tehran toy shop selling remote-controlled planes.
Greg Levesque, Strider’s co-founder and chief executive, said: “Iran has sustained and scaled its drone programme through the systematic use of global commercial supply chains.
“Simply complying with sanctions does not eliminate exposure to risk through indirect relationships embedded deep within supply chains.”