- Among those targeted was a key financier of Iran’s supreme leader.
- The United States sanctions Dubai-based banker Ali Ansari for his ties to Iran.
- Treasury’s Bessent says US is working to isolate Iranian leader.
The United States has imposed new Iran-related sanctions targeting a key financier of Iran’s new supreme leader and 13 other individuals and entities, following Tehran’s renewed attacks on oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, the Treasury Department said.
The sanctions targeted Ali Ansari, a Dubai-based Iranian banker and businessman who had previously been sanctioned by Britain for his alleged role in financially supporting the activities of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and other entities, the Treasury said.
The Treasury said Ansari diverted publicly funded wealth to a vast portfolio of overseas real estate and business assets to enrich himself, government elites and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) also targeted three Iran-based exchange houses and foreign “front companies” that it said transferred billions of dollars each year on behalf of sanctioned Iranian banks, using multiple layers of front companies to conceal the government’s illicit activities.
“The United States is taking decisive action to cut the financial ties that support Iran’s ruling elite,” State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said in a statement. “By targeting these networks, the United States is directly disrupting the government’s ability to access foreign currencies and conduct international financial activities.”
Treasury announced the sanctions on a day of relative calm after a week of renewed conflict, when three Qatari and Saudi commercial oil tankers came under Iranian fire, prompting the United States to strike Iranian sites and Iran to respond with strikes on U.S. military sites in the Gulf states.
US President Donald Trump said on Friday that the ceasefire with Iran was over, but that Washington had agreed to continue negotiations at Iran’s request.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement that the department would “continue to use every tool at our disposal” to isolate Khamenei and other senior Iranian officials from the global financial system.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Saturday morning that Bessent had violated Article 9 of the memorandum of understanding, describing it as a violation following “other violations and missteps by the United States.”
“Reality check: There can only be mutual respect,” Araghchi said in a post on X, adding that Iran had “so far kept its word.”
Iran has said it is ready for an “all-out defense” if the United States violates the memorandum of understanding reached last month. Its main negotiator, Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf, vowed on Telegram that the war would never end with Tehran’s capitulation.
Brett Erickson, managing director of Obsidian Risk Advisors, said the new sanctions send a clear message to Tehran. “Washington is no longer trying to save the existing framework. It is preparing to replace it entirely,” he said.
Under Article 9 of the U.S.-Iran deal, Washington agreed that it “will not impose any new sanctions or deploy additional forces to the region.”
The Treasury said Ansari was previously the owner and director of the U.S.-sanctioned and now-bankrupt Ayandeh Bank, which was closed by order of the Iranian government in mid-October 2025.
It says Ansari used numerous shell companies and bank accounts in multiple jurisdictions to amass millions of dollars in stakes in St. Kitts and Nevis-based Smart Global Limited, a holding company established in 2011 that invested in real estate and commercial properties in Europe, the Gulf and other regions.
“While held in Ansari’s name, many of these financial interests are ultimately held for the financial benefit of Mojtaba Khamenei, her family, and other Iranian regime and IRGC elites who have protected Ansari from punishment despite his blatant corruption and the significant damage he has caused to the Iranian economy and people,” Treasury said.
OFAC also announced measures against Iranian nationals involved in the three exchange houses, as well as Hong Kong-based CDM Trading Limited, which it said conducted financial transactions for these exchange houses, and Naba Alzaki Raw Materials Trading LLC, based in the United Arab Emirates.
