The Office of Foreign Assets control of the US Department of the Treasury has designated five subsidiaries of Mobarakeh Steel Company pursuant to Executive Order 13871 for their role in the Iranian steel sector. The parent company, Mobarakeh, is the largest flat steel producer in the Middle East and North Africa. It was designated in 2018 pursuant to Executive Order 13224 for being owned or controlled by an entity affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps; Mobarakeh was also sanctioned in October 2019 by seven nations via the Terrorist Financing Targeting Center, and further designated by OFAC in 2020 for operating in Iran’s steel sector.
In addition to these the five entities — Pacific Steel FZE, Better Future General Trading Co LLC, and Tuka Metal Trading DMCC, based in the UAE; Tara Steel Trading GmbH, based in Germany, and; Metil Steel, based in Iran – OFAC has designated three Iran-based Iron and aluminum producers, South Aluminum Company, Sirjan Jahan Steel Complex, and Iran Central Iron Ore Company, also pursuant to Executive Order 13781. Furthermore, the US Department of State has imposed sanctions on Global Industrial and Engineering Supply Ltd., a company based in China and Hong Kong, pursuant to Section 1245 of the Iran Freedom and Counter-Proliferation Act, for knowingly transferring 300 metric tons of graphite to an Iranian entity on the list of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons.
Following these sanctions, all US property of the designated entities is blocked, and US persons are generally prohibited from dealing with such property. In addition, persons who engage in transactions with the designated entities may themselves be exposed to sanctions, and foreign financial institutions that knowingly conduct a significant transaction for the designated entities could be subject to US correspondent or payable-through account sanctions.