WASHINGTON -- The United States imposed sweeping new sanctions targeting an Iranian businessman accused of managing a global financial network for Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei and several exchange houses that Washington says have helped Tehran evade sanctions and maintain access to foreign currency.
The measures, announced on July 10 by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), target Dubai-based Iranian businessman Ali Ansari, whom US officials accuse of overseeing a sprawling network of commercial and real estate holdings on behalf of Khamenei and other senior regime insiders.
According to the Treasury and the State Department, Ansari built a global portfolio of assets spanning Germany, the UK, Spain, Cyprus, the UAE, and other jurisdictions. US officials say the network has served as a financial vehicle for members of Iran's ruling elite and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).
Currency Exchanges Also Hit
The Treasury also sanctioned three Iranian currency exchange houses -- Mohammad Darbani and Partners, Lavasani and Partners, and Mohsen Khandan and Partners -- along with their managing partners and associated front companies.
US officials allege the firms maintained hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign currency on behalf of sanctioned Iranian banks and relied on shell companies and intermediaries, including entities in Hong Kong and the UAE, to facilitate international financial transactions and obscure the origin of funds.
The Treasury said Ansari accumulated much of his wealth through Ayandeh Bank, which collapsed in 2025 after accumulating billions of dollars in debt.
Assets linked to him were allegedly held through Smart Global Limited, a Saint Kitts and Nevis-based holding company. OFAC simultaneously issued Iran General License Y, authorizing the wind-down of transactions involving Smart Global Limited.
In a separate statement, State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said the measures are intended to sever "the financial lifelines sustaining Iran's ruling elite" by disrupting the regime's access to foreign currency and international financial markets.
"The United States will continue to pursue sanctions against individuals, companies, and financial institutions -- including foreign entities -- that facilitate illicit Iranian commerce, and will not relent until the Iranian regime ends its destabilizing behavior and its exploitation of the Iranian people," Pigott said.
Pressure Campaign Intensifies
The sanctions come just three days after the Trump administration revoked a general license that had temporarily allowed Iran to sell crude oil, petroleum products, and petrochemicals under the cease-fire memorandum reached last month.
The Treasury rescinded the authorization following attacks on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, saying the agreement's sanctions relief was contingent on Iran's behavior. Existing transactions must be wound down by July 17, while no new oil sales are permitted.
The latest action was also announced as Washington continues diplomatic contacts with Iran despite heightened regional tensions.
On July 10, President Donald Trump said the US had agreed to continue talks with Tehran but declared that the cease-fire between the US and Iran was "over" following renewed hostilities earlier in the week.
At the same time, Qatari mediators, coordinating with Washington, traveled to Iran for meetings with Iranian officials.
The timing suggests the administration is pairing diplomatic engagement with a renewed campaign to squeeze the financial infrastructure that underpins Iran's economy.
'Economic Warfare Campaign'
Brett Erickson, a sanctions expert at Obsidian Risk Advisors, said the latest designations represent more than a routine expansion of the US sanctions list.
"This is not a defensive sanctions action. It is the reopening of an economic warfare campaign, aimed directly at the financial networks Iran relies on to keep its economy functioning," Erickson told RFE/RL.
Unlike sanctions aimed at individual shipments or procurement schemes, Erickson said the latest measures target the exchange houses, shell companies, and financial facilitators that form the backbone of Iran's shadow banking system, enabling sanctioned banks and regime-linked elites to move money internationally despite years of US restrictions.
Under US law, any property or interests in property belonging to the designated individuals and entities that come under US jurisdiction are blocked.
Foreign financial institutions that knowingly facilitate significant transactions involving those designated also risk secondary sanctions, potentially extending the impact of the measures well beyond the US.
