The Treasury Department issued two new sectoral sanctions determinations under Executive Order 13902 covering Iran’s automotive and rail sectors, and designated the sector’s major companies: automakers Iran Khodro (IKCO) and SAIPA, which together hold over 90 percent of the domestic market and produce nearly 1.5 million vehicles a year, plus Iran Khodro Diesel, Pars Khodro, Zamyad, and motorcycle maker Niroo Motor Shiraz. Treasury said the auto sector loses over $1 billion annually to corruption and mismanagement while serving as a cash source for the IRGC. Foreign suppliers were also designated, including firms in Indonesia, the UAE, Turkiye, Hong Kong and Germany. On rail, the state-owned Islamic Republic of Iran Railway Company, Raja Passenger Trains and the Railway Transportation Company were designated, along with metals and machinery firms including HEPCO and its Shanghai subsidiary, and a steel-and-oil export network run by Ramin Keshvardoust that moved tens of millions of dollars of Iranian steel and oil through Hong Kong shell companies.
In the companion action, Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control designated the A7 Network as a significant transnational criminal organization, while FinCEN proposed a rule barring U.S. financial institutions from transmitting funds involving the network’s sub-agents and issued an alert to banks. The A7 Network, led by sanctioned fraudster Ilan Mironovich Shor, uses purpose-built sub-agent companies to disguise sanctioned payments as ordinary trade. FinCEN found its sub-agents processed more than $17 billion between January 2025 and June 2026; the network itself claimed over 2,000 transactions a day worth 7.5 trillion rubles, about $91.5 billion or 13 percent of Russia’s 2025 foreign trade. The network served the IRGC, the Central Bank of Iran and Hamas, was linked to Iran’s Nobitex crypto exchange and North Korean exchange hacks, and issued the ruble-backed A7A5 token through Old Vector LLC. One sub-agent received nearly $140 million from entities tied to Iranian sanctions evasion.
Both actions fall under Operation Economic Outcast, the campaign Treasury launched on August 24, 2026 to sever Iran’s remaining economic lifelines. Treasury says the moves build on allied steps including the UK National Crime Agency’s August 31 alert on the A7 network. The FinCEN rule’s public comment period runs 30 days after Federal Register publication. What to watch: whether secondary sanctions enforcement extends to the Chinese buyers and intermediaries the releases describe but do not name.