Middle East: Australia imposes fresh sanctions on Iranians over missile strikes targeting Israel

Australia has imposed fresh sanctions on Iranian military figures after the Middle Eastern nation’s missile strike on Israel risked “a dangerous escalation” to the regional conflict.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong has announced financial penalties and travel bans on five people involved in Iran’s missile program, bringing the total sanctions announced by the Albanese government on the Islamic Republic to 200 individuals.

Iran launched 180 ballistic missiles into Israel earlier in October in retaliation to Israel’s assault on Iran-backed militia Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Iran’s missile barrage was a “dangerous escalation that increased the risk of a wider regional war”, Senator Wong said on Tuesday.

“Iran’s missile program poses a material threat to regional and international security,” Senator Wong said.

“Iran’s proxies continue to launch daily attacks across the region, using missiles and other military equipment provided by Iran. Iran’s delivery of ballistic missiles to Russia last month to aid its war against Ukraine further demonstrates Iran’s destabilising role.”

The sanctions targeted two directors and a senior official in Iran’s Aerospace Industries Organization, the director of the Shahid Bagheri Industrial Group and the commercial director of the Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group.

The move comes after the US and UK governments imposed similar sanctions on Iranian individuals in response to the missile strike.

Israel has stepped up its military operations in neighbouring Lebanon, killing at least 18 people in an air strike on the Christian-majority town of Aitou in the north, the Lebanese Red Cross said.

The Pentagon said on Sunday it would send US troops to Israel along with an advanced US anti-missile system.

With Reuters