US sanctions target Iran’s auto, rail sectors after blockade chokes shipping lanes

The administration of US President Donald Trump imposed fresh sanctions on Iran, targeting its rail and automotive conglomerates and international suppliers to the sectors, the US Treasury Department says, in the latest American push to isolate Tehran economically.

The sanctions are part of the department’s “Operation Economic Outcast,” announced in August, which aims to cut Tehran’s funding for the war, missile construction, cyberattacks and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC.

The program aims to force Tehran to negotiate an end to the war that began with US-Israeli strikes on Iran ​in late February. Israel has largely stayed out of the fighting since April.

The US has imposed a blockade on Iranian oil going through the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has sought to obstruct. That has forced Tehran to rely more on autos and rail for transporting petroleum, fertilizer, chemicals and other goods. Today’s 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 US Treasury says the two companies represent more than 90% of Iran’s domestic auto market.

Treasury 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 says is a top private freight line.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says 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.”