Saudi Gazette report

WASHINGTON — The United States on Thursday slapped sanctions on major Iranian metals companies and their foreign subsidiaries as part of the Trump administration’s maximum pressure campaign.

In a press statement, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said on Thursday it took action against four steel, aluminum, and iron companies operating within Iran’s metals sector, including one subsidiary of Mobarakeh Steel Company — Iran’s largest steel manufacturer.

The OFAC also said that it is designating four sales agents outside Iran for being owned or controlled by Mobarakeh Steel Company.

Mobarakeh Steel Company was designated in 2018 pursuant to counterterrorism authorities for providing support to Iran’s Mehr Eqtesad Iranian Investment Company, an entity designated for being owned or controlled by the IRGC-affiliated Bonyad Taavon Basij, the OFAC said in the statement.

Mobarakeh Steel Company was also designated in 2020 for operating in Iran’s steel sector, and was sanctioned by the seven-member nations of the Terrorist Financing Targeting Center in October 2019 for being part of Iran’s terror support network.

Together, these sales agents generated tens of millions of dollars annually from the foreign sale of Mobarakeh Steel Company products, providing significant contributions to the billions of dollars generated overall by Iran’s steel, aluminum, copper, and iron sectors, the statement added.

“The Iranian regime continues to use profits from metals manufacturers and foreign sales agents to fund destabilizing behavior around the world,” said Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin. “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.”