The Iranian regime uses revenue it receives from the export of metals to provide funding for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, and other malign activities in the Middle East, and beyond. Today, as part of our maximum pressure campaign, the United States designated eight entities connected with Iran's metal industry and designated an entity that transferred a material to Iran that is critical to Tehran's metal plants.
Specifically, the United States designated Tara Steel Trading GMBH, Metil Steel, Pacific Steel FZE, Better Future General Trading Co. LLC, Tuka Metal Trading DMCC, South Aluminum Company, Sirjan Jahan Steel Company, and Iran Central Iron Ore Company pursuant to section 1(a) of Executive Order (E.O.) 13871, and added them to the List of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN List). These entities were designated for their affiliation to Iranian entity Mobarakeh Steel Company, whose property and interests in property are currently blocked pursuant to E.O. 13871, and/or for operating in the iron, steel, and aluminum sectors of Iran.
The United States also designated Global Industrial and Engineering Supply Ltd. pursuant to section 1245 of the Iran Freedom and Counter-Proliferation Act. In 2019, Global Industrial and Engineering Supply Ltd., an entity with based in mainland China and Hong Kong, knowingly transferred 300 metric tons of graphite to the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL), an Iranian entity on the SDN List, as a part of shipping this graphite to Iran. Graphite is a critical material for Iran's metals industry. Today, we reiterate that any person doing business with IRISL or conducting prohibited transfers of graphite to Iran risks sanctions.
Today's important actions block the property and interests in property of these sanctioned entities and deny them access to the U.S. financial system. We will continue to exert maximum pressure on Iran until the regime decides to start behaving like a normal country.
