US sanctions target Iran’s auto, rail sectors, after blockade chokes shipping lanes
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Iran’s rail and automotive conglomerates and international suppliers to those sectors are targeted by the new US sanctions.
PHOTO: REUTERS
- The US imposed sanctions on Iran's automotive and rail sectors, targeting major companies like IKCO and SAIPA to cut Tehran's economic resources.
- These sanctions are part of "Operation Economic Outcast," aiming to stop Iran's funding for war, missile development, and cyberattacks.
- The move follows a US blockade on Iranian oil via the Strait of Hormuz, aiming to disrupt Iran's alternative transport methods for goods and fuel.
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WASHINGTON – The Trump administration imposed sanctions on Iran’s rail and auto sectors and their foreign suppliers, the Treasury Department said on Oct 1, widening its wartime economic campaign to isolate Tehran.
The sanctions are part of the department’s “Operation Economic Outcast”, which aims to cut Tehran’s funding for the war, missile construction, cyberattacks and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC.
The move extends US economic pressure on Iran from sea to land, targeting sectors Tehran has leaned on since a naval blockade cut off its oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.
But the expanding sanctions risk inflicting severe costs on ordinary Iranians, one analyst said.
The US blockade of Iranian ports has forced Tehran to rely more on road transport and rail for moving petroleum, fertiliser, chemicals and other goods.
The Oct 1 sanctions target those alternatives, according to the Treasury Department.
The sanctions designate Iran Khodro Company, or IKCO, and SAIPA Iranian Automobile Manufacturing Company, or SAIPA.
The Treasury Department said the two companies represent more than 90% of Iran’s domestic auto market.
It also designated the state-owned Islamic Republic of Iran Railway Company, which provides passenger and freight services, the Raja Passenger Trains Company and Sherkat-E Rah Ahan-E Khamle-O-Naghle, also known as the Railway Transportation Company, which it said is a top private freight line.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the 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”.
The Oct 1 sanctions also target foreign firms in Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey that supply Iran’s auto industry.
“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 and managing principal at Obsidian Risk Advisors.
“You cannot choke an economy like this without choking the livelihoods of the people who depend on it.” REUTERS