- Key financier of Iran’s supreme leader among those targeted.
- US sanctions Dubai-based banker Ali Ansari over Iran ties.
- The Treasury Department’s Bessent says the US is working to isolate the Iranian leader.
The United States issued 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, an Iranian banker and businessman based in Dubai who had previously been sanctioned by Britain for his alleged role in financially supporting the activities of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and other units, the Treasury said.
The Treasury Department said Ansari had diverted publicly funded wealth into an extensive overseas portfolio of real estate and commercial holdings to enrich himself, government elites and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) also targeted three Iran-based stock exchanges and foreign “front companies” that it said moved billions of dollars annually on behalf of sanctioned Iranian banks, using layers of shell companies to hide the government’s illegal activity.
“The United States is taking decisive action to cut off the financial lifelines that sustain Iran’s ruling elite,” State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said in a statement. “By targeting these networks, the United States directly disrupts the government’s ability to access foreign currency and conduct international financial activity.”
The Treasury Department announced the sanctions on a day of relative calm after a week of renewed conflict when three Qatari and Saudi commercial tankers came under Iranian fire, prompting US strikes on Iranian sites and Iran responding with strikes on US military sites in the Gulf states.
US President Donald Trump said on Friday that the ceasefire agreed with Iran was over, but Washington had agreed to continue talks at Iran’s request.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement that the department will “continue to use every tool at its disposal” to isolate Khamenei and other top Iranian officials from the global financial system.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said early Saturday that Bessent had violated Article 9 of the memorandum of understanding, describing it as a violation that follows “other violations and missteps by the United States.”
“Reality check: There can only be mutual compliance,” Araghchi said in a post on X, adding that Iran “so far has kept its word.”
Iran has said it is ready for “all-out defense” if the United States violates the memorandum of understanding agreed last month. Its top negotiator, Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf, vowed on Telegram that the war would never end with Tehran’s surrender.
Brett Erickson, managing director at Obsidian Risk Advisors, said the new sanctions sent 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 US-Iran deal, Washington agreed that it “will not impose new sanctions and will not deploy additional forces in the region.”
The Treasury Department said Ansari was previously the owner and director of the US-sanctioned and now bankrupt Ayandeh Bank, which was closed under Iranian government orders in mid-October 2025.
It said Ansari used numerous shell companies and bank accounts across multiple jurisdictions to accumulate holdings worth millions of dollars under Saint 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.
“Although held in Ansari’s name, many of these financial interests are ultimately held for the financial benefit of Mojtaba Khamenei, his family and other Iranian elites in the regime and the IRGC, who have shielded Ansari from punishment despite his obvious corruption and the significant damage he has caused to the Iranian economy and people,” Treasury said.
OFAC also announced actions against Iranian nationals involved in the three exchanges, as well as Hong Kong-based CDM Trading Limited, which it said carried out financial transactions for those exchanges, and Naba Alzaki Raw Materials Trading LLC, which is based in the United Arab Emirates.
