US Sanctions Three Accused of Helping Iran Buy Shoulder-Fired Missiles

The State Department on Wednesday designated two men and a Nigerian company it accuses of trying to help Iran obtain man-portable air-defense systems, the shoulder-fired missiles known as MANPADS. The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control added all three to its Specially Designated Nationals list the same day.

Who was named

Mohammed Ali Tolibov is chief executive of Armory Alliance, a Belarus-based company the department says acted as a go-between for China-based firms and Iran in efforts to buy hundreds of MANPADS, Anadolu Agency reported, citing the department. Vanguard Tactical Supply Limited, listed by OFAC at an address in Abuja, Nigeria, is accused of seeking Chinese-origin MANPADS for Iran through false end-users. Alisher Domullodzhanov, whose OFAC entry places him in Moscow Oblast, is accused of helping arrange missile purchases for Tehran.

The department said Tolibov, Armory Alliance and Vanguard had already been sanctioned under an earlier order. The new designations were made under Executive Order 13949, which covers conventional arms activity involving Iran.

Effect of the listings

Any property of the three that is in the United States or held by U.S. persons is blocked, and Americans are generally barred from dealing with them or with companies they own 50 percent or more.

The department said the move follows similar actions on May 8, June 10 and July 15 and supports a United Nations arms embargo on Iran that was restored in September 2025. “The United States will keep exposing the networks that arm Iran’s military and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps,” the department said, according to Anadolu Agency and Middle East Eye. It added that the steps “close off more of the channels Tehran uses to try to rebuild its arsenal.”

OFAC’s notice for Nov. 4 also included a separate alert on Iranian shadow-fleet tankers using false flags to evade sanctions.

Sources: U.S. Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control, U.S. Department of State, Anadolu Agency, Middle East Eye.