Trump’s Maximum Pressure 2.0 Should Designate All Significant Iranian Firms, Including Senior Leaders and Board Members
President Donald Trump designed his first term “Maximum Pressure” campaign to constrain both Tehran’s nuclear ambitions and its regional destabilization efforts. It worked. Enrichment remained frozen even after Trump exited the 2015 nuclear deal, and Iranian proxies struggled to pay salaries. The Biden administration then snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. Its failure to enforce sanctions enabled Iran to export more than $400 billion in oil and other goods. The Islamic Republic used this capital influx not only to enhance its nuclear and missile capabilities and support terrorism and domestic repression, but also to expand its indigenous dual-use industries.
As Trump prepares to return to the White House, a resumption of “Maximum Pressure” seems inevitable. As he shapes the new sanctions regime, he should not ignore Iran’s industrial metals sector.
The Maximum Pressure campaign did not limit itself to Iran’s oil trade. In May 2019, Trump imposed sanctions targeting individuals and entities engaged in transactions involving Iran’s iron, steel, aluminum, and copper industries. Today, the industrial metals sector generates 20 percent of Iran’s non-oil exports and contributes to other sectors, such as construction and automobile manufacturing. The industrial metals sector also supplies materials for military programs such as Iran’s ballistic missile and nuclear programs.