By Bosphorus News Economy Desk
The United States has sanctioned four Istanbul-based petrochemical and plastics companies and two managers over purchases of Iranian-origin petrochemical products, bringing Turkish importers directly into Washington's new Iran enforcement campaign.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) added Huzur Plastik Kimyevi Maddeler İthalat İhracat Sanayi ve Ticaret Limited Şirketi, Oshida Petrokimya Ürünleri Sanayi ve Ticaret Anonim Şirketi, Selfplast Plastik Ambalaj Sanayi Dış Ticaret Limited Şirketi and Starplas Kimya Sanayi ve Ticaret Anonim Şirket to the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (SDN List) on August 24.
The State Department designated all four under Executive Order 13846 for transactions involving Iranian petrochemical products. Cengiz Bekgöz, manager of Huzur Plastik, and Mohsen Farahi, director of Oshida, were blocked alongside their companies.
The action came as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent launched Operation Economic Outcast, a wider campaign intended to cut Iran's remaining financial and commercial links through third countries.
What the Designations Say
Huzur Plastik is the largest Turkish case identified in the State Department fact sheet. The Bağcılar-based company imported $28 million worth of Iranian-origin polyethylene from several Iran-based entities, including US-designated Arya Sasol Polymer Company, between June 2022 and May 2024.
The State Department also says Huzur supplied more than $900,000 worth of shipments containing Iranian-origin petrochemical products to several companies in Türkiye between January and September 2024.
Bekgöz, a Turkish national listed by OFAC with an Istanbul address, was blocked as a principal executive officer of the company.
Selfplast, based at the İSTOÇ commercial complex in Bağcılar, imported more than $4.7 million worth of Iranian-origin petrochemical products from several companies between January 2023 and May 2024.
One of its suppliers was Hong Kong-based Selenium Resources Limited, which was designated in the same action. The State Department says Selenium exported more than $22.8 million worth of Iranian-origin petrochemical products to several buyers, including Selfplast, between January 2023 and September 2024.
Oshida Petrokimya imported approximately $1 million worth of Iranian-origin petrochemical products between January and August 2024. Farahi, an Iranian national identified as the company's director and listed by OFAC with an Istanbul address, was blocked alongside it.
Starplas Kimya imported approximately $1.7 million worth of Iranian-origin petrochemical products from Iran-based Abhar Polymer Compounds between January and September 2024. Abhar was also designated on August 24.
The transactions attributed to the four Turkish companies therefore exceed $35.4 million in Iranian-origin petrochemical imports across the periods identified by the State Department, excluding Huzur Plastik's subsequent domestic shipments.
OFAC published Turkish tax identification numbers, registration details and addresses for all four companies.
Trade Is Much Larger Than the Four Cases
The transactions identified by Washington represent only part of Türkiye's plastics trade with Iran.
United Nations Comtrade data record Turkish imports of plastics from Iran at $272.6 million in 2025. Polymers of ethylene in primary forms, the category that includes polyethylene, accounted for $219.1 million.
Executive Order 13846 was already in force before August 24. Operation Economic Outcast did not create the authority used against the four Turkish companies; it began a new enforcement campaign using existing sanctions powers while adding restrictions elsewhere in the Iranian economy.
Bessent said Washington would press governments and companies to sever economic links with Iran and warned that entities continuing to facilitate Iranian transactions could lose access to the US financial system.
The United Arab Emirates had already halted all trade, commercial exchanges and financial transactions with Iran on August 19, saying the suspension would remain in force until further notice.
The August 24 package also extended Executive Order 13902 sanctions authority to aviation, digital assets, gold, shipping and technology. OFAC suspended Iran General License F, which covered certain sports activities and exchanges, and General License G, which covered academic exchanges and certain educational services.
Iran Gas Trade Was Not Sanctioned
The four companies are private importers of petrochemical products. Türkiye's much larger natural gas relationship with Iran was not targeted in the August 24 action.
Iranian pipeline gas has continued to cross the border since the 25-year supply agreement expired on July 29. Bosphorus News previously examined the unresolved status of the post-contract flows.
Bloomberg reported on August 25, citing people familiar with the matter, that the volumes still arriving in Türkiye are make-up gas covering supplies that had already been paid for but were not delivered while the previous agreement was in force.
Those deliveries do not establish that Ankara and Tehran have signed a replacement contract or opened a new payment stream.
Türkiye imported about 7.6 billion cubic meters of Iranian gas in 2025, roughly 13 percent of total natural gas imports. Iran ranked fourth among suppliers after Russia, Azerbaijan and the United States.
Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said in April that no negotiations were then underway to extend the Iranian agreement, although Türkiye could still need the pipeline for security of supply.
Any replacement contract would require new commercial arrangements at a time when Washington is increasing pressure on banks and companies handling Iranian transactions.
Hormuz Adds a Shipping Risk
Shipping presents a separate sanctions issue.
OFAC updated its Strait of Hormuz alert on August 24, expanding guidance first issued on May 1 as Iran imposed new requirements on vessels seeking passage through the waterway.
The alert warns that US and non-US persons risk sanctions or penalties by dealing with designated Iranian entities involved in passage arrangements, including the Persian Gulf Strait Authority, Persian Gulf Marine Insurance Company and HormuzSafe Marine Services Authority.
OFAC says exposure can arise from accepting insurance or other services, or responding to information demands connected to guarantees of safe passage, even when no payment is made. Turkish shipowners or operators dealing with those designated entities could therefore face sanctions risk independently of the petrochemical cases.
No Turkish Response on the Record
Bosphorus News found no public statement through August 30 from Türkiye's Foreign Ministry, Trade Ministry or Energy and Natural Resources Ministry addressing the four company designations.
Washington has already moved Operation Economic Outcast beyond commodity traders. On August 28, the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network proposed revoking Banque Misr UAE's correspondent banking access to US financial institutions, saying the bank had processed suspected Iranian transactions worth billions of dollars over two and a half years.
OFAC simultaneously sanctioned Reza Mohammad Taeedi, manager of Bank Melli Iran's Dubai branch.
The four Istanbul companies were therefore among the first Turkish entities caught in a campaign that, within four days of its launch, had expanded from petrochemical transactions to access to the US banking system. Türkiye's Iranian gas imports and shipping operations were not sanctioned in the August 24 package.
Sources: US Department of State, US Department of the Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Energy Market Regulatory Authority, United Nations Comtrade, Bloomberg, Reuters, PublicNow, Bosphorus News review and reporting.