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U.S. Imposes Sanctions on Steel Exports from Iran

The steel trade is now involved in the United States’ dispute with Iran.

Ever since the Trump administration a year ago pulled out of the 2015 multilateral deal that was intended to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, it has sought to increase pressure on that country’s regime. As part of this effort, on May 8, the United States imposed sanctions on the nation’s exports of steel and other industrial metals, which the White House says is Iran’s largest source of non-petroleum-related export revenue.

“Today’s action targets Iran’s revenue from the export of industrial metals – 10 percent of its export economy – and puts other nations on notice that allowing Iranian steel and other metals into your ports will no longer be tolerated,” President Donald Trump said.

Analysts from S&P Global suggested that the new sanctions “may change little in the short term for Iran’s steel exporters or their customers abroad, in a trade environment that has already been restricted by existing secondary sanctions and anti-dumping actions.” It quoted the secretary of Iran’s Syndicate of Steel Pipe and Profile Manufacturers as observing that, “In the face of previous sanctions, Iranian manufacturers have developed new markets in southeast Asia, and exports to neighboring countries has been increasing since then.”