The Treasury Department announced on Thursday afternoon new sanctions levied against Iran’s leading automotive and railway companies in response to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ use of both to evade the U.S. naval blockade.
These sanctions are the latest in Operation Economic Outcast, which is the name given to the department’s ongoing effort to squeeze the Iranian economy to the detriment of the Guard. The United States has already issued sanctions on Iran’s aviation, shipping, technology, digital assets, gold, as well as petroleum and petrochemical sectors.
“The Iranian regime’s ability to fund its war machine and inflict terror on the world has been severely diminished thanks to Operation Economic Outcast,” said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. “Today’s action directly targets Iran’s enablers and lays the groundwork for the United States and our partners to drain the regime’s revenue once and for all.”
Two car companies — Iran Khodro Company and SAIPA Iranian Automobile Manufacturing Company — combine to represent higher than 90% of the country’s domestic car market, and a treasury department release calls it “Iran’s largest economic sector outside of oil and gas, remains a core contributor to Iran’s industrial base and is a major revenue generator for the regime.”
A motorcycle company called Niroo Motor Shiraz Industrial and Manufacturing Company, the largest one in Iran, was also sanctioned because it closely cooperates with the Guard and the domestic state security apparatus, known as the Basij, including by providing motorcycles to plainclothes intelligence officers on patrol.
Other companies outside Iran, including the UAE-based Troy Trading Arac Parcalari Sanayi Ve Ticket Limited Sirketi, Hong Kong-based Hessenberg Co., Limited, and Tanex Global Trading Hong Kong Limited, were sanctioned because they support Iran’s auto industry.
Multiple entities involved in the Iranian railway system, which the Treasury Department alleges has been used to circumvent the U.S. naval blockade by transporting oil via key land routes, were sanctioned as well. A handful of companies involved in manufacturing, mining, and metals, such as steel, were sanctioned as well.
Ramin Keshvardoust and Mehnoosh Poursaraf Hamedani, both of whom are Hong Kong-based Iranian business people, were sanctioned as well. The former, Keshvardoust, used companies and accounts under his control to facilitate shipments of Iranian steel and oil totaling tens of millions of dollars, while Hamedani is a shareholder of one of the steel companies Keshvardoust operates.
The various rounds of sanctions combined with the naval blockade have led Iran’s rial currency to hit a new record low compared to the U.S. dollar earlier this week.
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The U.S. military began a naval blockade of Iranian ports back in April, shortly after President Donald Trump announced the April 7 ceasefire. It continued until mid-June when it was paused following the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding, which lasted only until mid-July. The Navy resumed its blockade when the collapse of the MOU occurred.
U.S. Central Command, the combatant command in charge of the Middle East region, said on Wednesday that as of Sept. 30, U.S. forces have redirected 125 commercial vessels.
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[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
