The United States has widened its economic campaign against Iran, imposing sanctions on the country's rail and auto sectors and their foreign suppliers, the Treasury Department said on Thursday.
The sanctions fall under the department's "Operation Economic Outcast", announced on August 24, which aims to cut Tehran's funding for the war effort, missile construction, cyberattacks and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The move extends American economic pressure on Iran from sea to land. Washington's naval blockade has cut off Iranian oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, forcing Tehran to lean more heavily on autos and rail to move petroleum, fertiliser, chemicals and other goods — and Thursday's sanctions target exactly those alternatives.
The designations hit Iran Khodro Company (IKCO) and SAIPA Iranian Automobile Manufacturing Company, which the Treasury said account for more than 90 per cent of Iran's domestic auto market. The state-owned Islamic Republic of Iran Railway Company, the Raja Passenger Trains Company and Sherkat-E Rah Ahan-E Khamle-O-Naghle, described as a top private freight line, were also designated. Foreign suppliers to Iran's auto industry in Indonesia, the UAE and Turkey were targeted as well.
"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," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.
Analysts warned the escalation could bite ordinary Iranians. "The blockade squeezed Iran at sea, sanctions increasingly isolate it by air, and now Washington is constricting its economic arteries on land," said Brett Erickson, a sanctions expert at Obsidian Risk Advisors. "You cannot choke an economy like this without choking the livelihoods of the people who depend on it."
Separately, the Treasury also moved against A7, a Russian company it said had built a network of more than 70 shell companies — and even a custom AI-built app generating fraudulent trade records — to help Iran and other sanctioned parties buy goods and move funds. The Office of Foreign Assets Control designated A7 a significant transnational criminal organization.
Sources:
- US sanctions target Iran's auto, rail sectors as blockade chokes ship lanes
The sanctions fall under the department's "Operation Economic Outcast", announced on August 24, which aims to cut Tehran's funding for the war effort, missile construction, cyberattacks and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The move extends American economic pressure on Iran from sea to land. Washington's naval blockade has cut off Iranian oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, forcing Tehran to lean more heavily on autos and rail to move petroleum, fertiliser, chemicals and other goods — and Thursday's sanctions target exactly those alternatives.
The designations hit Iran Khodro Company (IKCO) and SAIPA Iranian Automobile Manufacturing Company, which the Treasury said account for more than 90 per cent of Iran's domestic auto market. The state-owned Islamic Republic of Iran Railway Company, the Raja Passenger Trains Company and Sherkat-E Rah Ahan-E Khamle-O-Naghle, described as a top private freight line, were also designated. Foreign suppliers to Iran's auto industry in Indonesia, the UAE and Turkey were targeted as well.
"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," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.
Analysts warned the escalation could bite ordinary Iranians. "The blockade squeezed Iran at sea, sanctions increasingly isolate it by air, and now Washington is constricting its economic arteries on land," said Brett Erickson, a sanctions expert at Obsidian Risk Advisors. "You cannot choke an economy like this without choking the livelihoods of the people who depend on it."
Separately, the Treasury also moved against A7, a Russian company it said had built a network of more than 70 shell companies — and even a custom AI-built app generating fraudulent trade records — to help Iran and other sanctioned parties buy goods and move funds. The Office of Foreign Assets Control designated A7 a significant transnational criminal organization.
Sources:
- US sanctions target Iran's auto, rail sectors as blockade chokes ship lanes
