Iran's Vandad Sanat P240-A Claims First Domestic Metal 3D Printer Status

Iran Builds Its Own Metal 3D Printer, With Sanctions as a Driving Force

An Iranian company called Vandad Sanat has launched the P240-A, a wire-fed directed energy deposition machine it describes as the first metal 3D printer built in the Middle East. The system deposits stainless steel, titanium, aluminum, and nickel alloy wire through a 2 kW fiber laser, building parts up to 1150 x 800 x 2050 mm at 2 to 4 kg per hour.

The company says the P240-A meets ISO 9001, CE, ASME, and ASTM standards, though those claims have not been independently verified. Accuracy is listed at 5 microns, and the 5-axis CNC gantry accepts AutoCAD and SolidWorks files directly.

The launch comes after more than a decade of sanctions that have blocked Iranian industry from buying Western metal 3D printers. Vandad Sanat's managing director, Barzin Ghafari, told local media that domestically built systems can be produced for a fraction of the 350,000 to 3 million euro price tag on imported equipment. That price gap exists partly because the company avoids the tariffs, shipping, and support costs of foreign hardware, and partly because the machine's specifications are unproven outside controlled test environments.

A Parallel Supply Chain Has Emerged

Sanctions did not stop metal additive manufacturing in Iran. They redirected it. Researchers at the Atlantic Council have documented what they call an "Axis of Evasion," in which Chinese and Russian machine tools increasingly substitute for Western equipment that Iran cannot buy directly. The same channels likely supplied some of the CNC and laser components inside the P240-A.

Whether the P240-A can compete with Chinese or Russian-built DED systems is an open question. Its 2 kW laser is modest compared to the 4 kW to 12 kW systems common in Western production WAAM machines. The build envelope is respectable, but the deposition rate of 2 to 4 kg per hour sits at the low end for industrial wire-arc and laser DED.

The machine also has no path into Western supply chains. The U.S. National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2026 added a section that bars the Department of Defense from procuring additive manufacturing equipment made in, or networked through, Iran, Russia, China, or North Korea. That restriction will keep the P240-A out of any U.S.-linked defense work, regardless of its actual capabilities.

Still, the P240-A is a signal. Iran's domestic industry is building alternatives to sanctioned technology, and it is doing so at prices that could appeal to buyers in the Middle East, Central Asia, and Africa who are themselves outside the reach of Western export controls.