The United States implemented a new round of sanctions on Iran on Friday (July 10) following the collapse of the US-Iran ceasefire agreement. The sanctions target key financial supporters of Iran’s Supreme Leader and Iranian shadow foreign exchange trading institutions in response to Iran’s recent attacks on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
According to a statement released by the US Department of the Treasury on Friday, the targets of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) include Iranian banker and businessman Ali Ansari. Ansari oversees a massive global asset network that benefits Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei and other regime elites.
“Ansari effectively institutionalized large-scale embezzlement within the Iranian regime, transferring public funds to vast overseas real estate and commercial asset portfolios to profit himself, regime elites – including key figures in the Supreme Leader’s office – and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC),” the Treasury Department stated.
OFAC’s sanctions also target some major foreign exchange exchange institutions in Iran that annually transfer billions of dollars on behalf of sanctioned Iranian banks and use multiple shell companies to conceal the regime’s illegal financial activities.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated that the so-called Supreme Leader of Iran is in hiding while his regime is crumbling.
“The Treasury Department will continue to utilize all available tools to isolate him (the Supreme Leader of Iran) and other regime elites from the global financial system. We will preserve these assets for the Iranian people,” Bessent said.
The Treasury Department stated that Ansari is an Iranian citizen residing in Dubai. He acts on behalf of Iran’s Supreme Leader Khamenei and uses his close connections with regime elites to benefit himself, all at the expense of the Iranian people, enriching himself and his allies. He also represents Khamenei in expanding overseas business operations.
The statement added that through “Smart Global Limited,” Ansari invests Iranian people’s funds in real estate and commercial properties in Germany, Luxembourg, Spain, the United Kingdom, Cyprus, the United Arab Emirates, among other places. Although these assets are registered under Ansari’s name, many financial benefits ultimately end up in the pockets of Khamenei, his family, and other elites of the Iranian regime and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. These individuals shield Ansari from punishment for blatant corruption and the significant harm he has caused to the Iranian economy and its people.