Alireza Jafarzadeh: The way to end the Iran crisis for good is regime change by the Iranian people and their organized Resistance movement.
By NCRI-US Staff
WASHINGTON, Oct. 2, 2026 — The United States has expanded economic pressure on the Iranian regime, imposing new sanctions on the country’s automotive and rail sectors while separately targeting a Russia-linked payment network that Washington says helped Tehran evade existing restrictions.
The Treasury Department announced the measures on October 1 under “Operation Economic Outcast.” The department said the regime’s automotive, rail, manufacturing, and steel networks provide revenue, logistical capacity, and sanctions-evasion channels used by the state and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Treasury designated major Iranian automotive and rail companies, along with foreign suppliers in Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, and Hong Kong. Reuters reported that Washington’s latest measures are intended to further restrict revenue and transportation networks available to the Iranian government.
NCRI-US has previously released documents and analyses detailing how the IRGC has expanded its influence over major segments of Iran’s economy and uses commercial and financial networks to circumvent sanctions and finance military and security activities. In a 2023 presentation, NCRI-US detailed an international scheme involving oil and petrochemical revenues and IRGC-linked entities. (NCRI-US: The IRGC Papers)
Alireza Jafarzadeh, deputy director of NCRI-US, commenting on the new sanctions, said: “Imposing severe economic sanctions on the regime’s primary instrument of terrorism and repression, the IRGC, is necessary. But it is not enough. The way to end the Iran crisis for good is regime change by the Iranian people and their organized Resistance movement. There is no need for foreign troops or foreign money.”
He added: “The international community should also hold the regime accountable for crimes against humanity and recognize the NCRI’s Provisional Government for a democratic republic of peace and freedom.”
Human Rights Watch has separately documented an intensified execution campaign against protesters and political dissidents in 2026, reporting that at least 59 men were arbitrarily executed on politically motivated national-security charges between March and the end of August, following proceedings the organization described as grossly unfair. (Human Rights Watch report)
The sanctions arrive at a critical moment for a weakened regime in Tehran, as factional infighting escalates and social tensions continue to intensify.