The U.S. Department of State has designated three entities involved in facilitating Iran's military procurement and the transport of arms in violation of renewed UN restrictions, marking one year since those UN sanctions were reimposed. Acting under Executive Order 13949, which targets persons involved in Iran's conventional arms activities, the designations cover one Iran-based airline and two Russia-based companies. The Department of the Treasury simultaneously designated ten entities and individuals who procured weapons and weapons components for Iran's Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics (MODAFL).
The three State Department targets are the aircraft manufacturer Joint Stock Company Experimental Design Bureau Named After A.S. Yakovlev (YAKOVLEV), the shipping company MG-FLOT Limited Liability Company, and SAHA AIRLINES. YAKOVLEV, a Russia-based firm that develops and produces the Yak-130 advanced trainer fighter jet, saw Russia deliver several Yak-130 aircraft to Iran beginning in late 2023. In November 2025, additional equipment associated with the Yak-130 was transferred to Iran aboard a U.S.-sanctioned Russian aircraft from a YAKOVLEV manufacturing facility in Irkutsk, Russia, with further shipments following in December 2025 from the same facility. Russia has now delivered to Iran nearly all of its reportedly 24 contracted Yak-130 aircraft. YAKOVLEV had previously been designated under Executive Order 14024 on May 19, 2023.
MG-FLOT, a Russia-based shipping company whose vessels transport weapons for the Russian government, was involved in 2024 in the transfer of close-range ballistic missiles from Iran to Russia. In late 2025, Iran delivered air defense vehicles and related materiel to Russia aboard the Russian roll-on roll-off motor vessel Kompozitor Rakhmaninov, identified as blocked property of MG-FLOT. The company was formerly known as TransMorFlot LLC, which was designated under Executive Order 14024 on May 8, 2022, before being renamed on June 27, 2022.
SAHA AIRLINES, affiliated with the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force, has been involved in efforts by Iran to transport arms and related materiel.
The actions fall under Operation Economic Outcast, described by the State Department as a commitment to disrupting the procurement efforts of Iran's military programs and denying the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) access to assets and resources. Over the past year, the United States imposed dozens of new sanctions, convened representatives from 40 countries to strengthen implementation, and submitted updated identifying information on sanctioned entities. All property and interests in property of the newly designated persons that are in the United States or held by U.S. persons are blocked under the order.
This article is based on a verified primary source. The text was editorially reviewed and fact-checked prior to publication.
