Canada on Friday announced fresh sanctions against Iran targeting two defense contractors accused of supplying drones and personnel to Russia to target “civilians and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine.”

Ottawa-sanctioned Shahed Aviation Industries and Qods Aviation Industries are “essential to the regime’s ongoing activities aimed at destabilizing international peace and security,” Secretary of State Melanie Joly said in a statement. In particular, the minister accuses them of being involved in “arms sales and sending Iranian military personnel to train and support the Russian armed forces”.

This fifth round of sanctions, imposed this year, also targets the Supreme Leader’s senior adviser on military affairs, Yahya Safavi, the head of logistics, Gen. Sayed Hojatollah Qureishi, and the commander of the Revolutionary Guards drones, Gen. Saeed Aghajani -Brigade.

The new Canadian measures impose “a ban on transactions with listed individuals and entities, freezing any assets they may hold in Canada,” the government said.

Kyiv and its western allies have accused Russia of using Iranian-made drones for attacks in Ukraine in recent weeks. Britain and the European Union have already imposed sanctions on Iranian officials and arms companies.

In early November, Iran acknowledged that it had shipped drones to Russia, but assured that those shipments were made before the offensive in Ukraine.

Earlier this week, Ottawa also permanently barred thousands of Iranian officials from entering Canada because Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino called “gross human rights abuses” and terrorism.

“It’s a regime that killed its own citizens. It is a regime that has also killed our citizens,” the minister said on Monday, referring to Tehran’s deadly crackdown on protests and the tragedy of flight PS752. In January 2020, an Iranian missile attack on a Ukraine International Airlines plane killed 176 people, including 85 Canadian citizens and permanent residents.