The United States sanctioned ten people and companies on September 29, 2026, alleging they helped Iran's defence ministry obtain weapons or components. Treasury's action under Executive Order 13382 included Seyyed Asghar Alizadeh Tabatabai, whom it identified as the ministry's Beijing procurement representative. The designations were part of its Operation Economic Outcast campaign.
Treasury said Iran's Kavoshcom supplied electronics for military aircraft, drones and solid-fuel missiles. It also named Hong Kong supplier EC Mojo and intermediaries. A separate network centred on Pakistan-based Waseem Pasha Tajammal and Cavalier companies in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. Treasury said the Saudi action was coordinated with that country's government.
The notice described Tajammal as majority owner of the Pakistani company, which wholly owned the Saudi business, and sole shareholder of the Turkish company. Designated parties' property within US jurisdiction was blocked. Transactions involving it are generally prohibited for US persons unless authorised or exempt. The procurement allegations are Treasury's findings.
OFAC's published ownership guidance extends blocking beyond names individually entered on its sanctions list. A company owned at least 50 per cent in aggregate by blocked persons is itself blocked. The rule also follows qualifying ownership chains: where a blocked owner holds half of one company and that company holds half of another, OFAC treats the second company as blocked too. Its guidance calls for checking relevant ownership stakes.
Control without that ownership threshold is treated differently. OFAC says a company is not automatically blocked under the 50 per cent rule merely because a sanctioned person controls it. However, the agency can designate it separately. Dealings with a sanctioned individual acting for an otherwise unblocked company, including signing a contract, can still raise sanctions restrictions under the agency's guidance.
