The Trump administration unleashed another round of sanctions on Iranian entities fueling the country’s illicit nuclear weapons program, ratcheting up pressure on the hardline regime ahead of major diplomatic talks this weekend.
The Wednesday sanctions primarily target “key entities managing and overseeing Iran’s nuclear program,” including the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) and a subordinate group, the Iran Centrifuge Technology Company (TESA), which manufactures the machines powering Tehran’s uranium enrichment program.
The fresh sanctions are the most biting to date and strike at the heart of Tehran’s nuclear industry, effectively choking off its ability to source the materials required for uranium enrichment and the construction of research facilities. They are certain to get the Iranian leadership’s attention ahead of negotiations with the United States on Saturday.
“The Iranian regime’s reckless pursuit of nuclear weapons remains a grave threat to the United States and a menace to regional stability and global security,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement. “Treasury will continue to leverage our tools and authorities to disrupt any attempt by Iran to advance its nuclear program and its broader destabilizing agenda.”
Iran has spent years perfecting its ability to enrich uranium, the key component in an atomic bomb, through advanced centrifuges, which spin the fuel at high speeds to bring it towards weapons-grade levels. The latest sanctions aim to disrupt this activity by targeting the Iran-based Atbin Ista Technical and Engineering Company (AIT), which helps Tehran’s technology sector secure various components from foreign suppliers.
Iranian national Majid Mosallat, who serves as a managing director at AIT, was also hit with sanctions for his role in overseeing “the purchase and shipment of items to TESA on behalf of AIT,” according to information provided by the Treasury Department.
Another Iranian company, Pegah Aluminum Arak Company, was also designated for manufacturing aluminum products on TESA’s behalf.
Additional sanctions target a constellation of companies that feed Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, the main government body “responsible for research and development activities in the field of nuclear technology, including Iran’s centrifuge enrichment and experimental laser enrichment of uranium programs,” according to the Treasury Department.
Around July 2023, the AEOI formed Thorium Power Company and tasked it with developing “thorium-fueled reactor technologies,” which help breed a pivotal fissile material known as uranium-233. The company is now formally under U.S. sanctions and will face great difficulties trying to source weapons technology.
Two other Iranian companies—the Pars Reactors Construction and Development Company and Azarab Industries Co.—will also face sanctions. Pars acts as an “AEOI-subordinate” engaged in a “number of nuclear reactor projects.”
Azarab, the Treasury Department said, acts as a general contractor for the AEOI, helping it construct “power plant, refinery, petrochemical, and cement projects.” It also has a contract to produce “equipment for nuclear power plants.” The sanctions, like other similar measures, will stop Azarab from sourcing the materials it needs to complete these projects.
Nick Stewart, who served as chief of staff for the State Department’s Iran Action Group during Trump’s first term, said the latest sanctions send “a powerful and unmistakable message” to Tehran ahead of diplomatic talks this weekend.
“Beyond the practical impact of today’s designations, their timing—on the eve of potential talks in Oman—sends a powerful and unmistakable message: Iran’s nuclear ambitions will not be tolerated, and those who enable them will face severe consequences,” said Stewart, who is currently the senior director of government relations at FDD Action, an advocacy arm of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank.
“With Iran at its weakest point in decades, the United States must recognize the tremendous leverage it holds and press that advantage,” Stewart said. “The complete and verifiable dismantlement of Iran’s nuclear program is the only viable path to protect U.S. national security and promote regional stability.”
The bevy of new punitive measures come ahead of what President Donald Trump described earlier this week as a “very big meeting” with Iran over its nuclear weapons program. Tehran’s enrichment activities went into overdrive during the Biden-Harris administration, which failed to enforce sanctions on Iran, helping it secure the cash needed to pursue nuclear technology and fund its regional terror proxies.
Trump entered office pledging to pursue diplomacy with Iran but promising to take military action if Iran balked at direct negotiations. The country’s hardline leadership still maintains that Saturday’s diplomatic détente will occur indirectly, with the two sides speaking through Oman as a mediator. The White House, meanwhile, insists the negotiations will take place directly with Tehran.
On Tuesday, shortly after Trump announced the talks, Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araqchi claimed that Washington had agreed to hold indirect negotiations.
“As long as ‘maximum pressure’ and threats exist, there is no ground for fair negotiations, and we will not hold direct negotiations,” Araqchi said.
Trump, however, described the upcoming meeting differently during a Tuesday press conference with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“We have a very big meeting on Saturday, and we’re dealing with them directly,” Trump said. “We are meeting, very importantly, on Saturday at almost the highest level.”
Should the talks fail, “Iran is going to be in great danger.”
