The United States imposed new US-Iran sanctions on Ali Ansari and 13 other individuals and entities accused of financing Iran’s ruling elite and sanctioned banks, the Treasury Department said.
The Treasury said Ansari, an Iranian banker and businessman based in Dubai, diverted publicly funded wealth into overseas real estate and commercial holdings for himself, government elites and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control also targeted three Iran-based exchange houses and foreign front companies. Treasury said the network moved billions of dollars annually for sanctioned Iranian banks through shell companies.
State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said the United States was cutting off financial lifelines that sustain Iran’s ruling elite. He said the action would disrupt Tehran’s access to foreign currency and international financial activity.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the department would keep using available tools to isolate top Iranian officials from the global financial system.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on X early Saturday that the sanctions violated Article 9 of a memorandum of understanding with Washington. He said Iran had “so far kept its word.”
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The sanctions followed renewed attacks on commercial tankers in the Strait of Hormuz and U.S.-Iran military exchanges in Gulf states.
Treasury said the designations also covered Hong Kong-based CDM Trading Limited and Naba Alzaki Raw Materials Trading LLC, based in the United Arab Emirates.
