Treasury institutes sanctions against companies in Iran’s metal industry

The Treasury Department is instituting sanctions against companies operating in Iran’s metal sector, officials announced Thursday.

The department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed sanctions against five organizations owned or controlled by Mobarakeh Steel Company, Iran’s largest steel manufacturer. 

Specifically, it blacklisted Iran-based Metil Steel, Germany-based Tara Steel Trading GmbH, and three United Arab Emirates-based companies: Pacific Steel FZE, Better Future General Trading Co LLC and Tuka Metal Trading DMCC. 

In total, the companies make tens of millions of dollars annually from selling Mobarakeh Steel products overseas and provide “significant contributions” to the billions of dollars in profits in Iran’s steel, aluminum, copper and iron sectors.

Treasury targets major Iranian metals companies and foreign subsidiaries and sales agents https://t.co/7d2OMXmBEn

— Treasury Department (@USTreasury) June 25, 2020

“The Iranian regime continues to use profits from metals manufacturers and foreign sales agents to fund destabilizing behavior around the world,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a release. “The United States remains committed to isolating key sectors of the Iranian economy until the revenues from such sectors are refocused toward the welfare of the Iranian people.”

Mobarakeh Steel Company was designated for sanctions in 2018 for giving support to Iran’s Mehr Eqtesad Iranian Investment Company, which is owned by Bonyad Taavon Basij, an affiliate with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The company was sanctioned in October for participating in Iran’s terror support.

The Treasury is acting upon a May 2019 executive order to implement the sanctions, which freeze any U.S. assets held by companies and prevent Americans from adjusting them. 

The U.S. also blacklisted three aluminum, steel and iron producers in Iran: South Aluminum Company, Sirjan Jahan Steel Complex and Iran Central Iron Ore Company. The Treasury Department alleges these companies contributed billions of dollars in sales and export of Iranian metals.