World
‘Blatant corruption’: New US sanctions target Mojtaba Khamenei’s moneyman
WASHINGTON (Reuters) — The US issued new Iran-related sanctions on Friday targeting a key financier for Iran’s new leader Mojtaba Khamenei and 13 other individuals and entities, following Tehran’s resumed attacks on oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, the Treasury Department said.
The sanctions took aim at Ali Ansari, an Iranian banker and businessman based in Dubai who had previously been sanctioned by Britain for his role in financially supporting the activities of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and other entities, Treasury said.
Treasury 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).
British media reported in March that Mojtaba Khamenei owns two luxury apartments “overlooking the Israeli embassy” in west London, among over a dozen apartments in London, some of them acquired via Ansari.
Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) also targeted three Iran-based exchange houses and foreign “front companies” that it said moved billions of dollars annually on behalf of sanctioned Iranian banks, using layers of shell companies to obscure the government’s illicit activity.
“The United States is taking decisive action to cut off the financial lifelines sustaining Iran’s ruling elite,” State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said in a statement. “By targeting these networks, the United States is directly disrupting the regime’s ability to access foreign currency and conduct international financial activity.”
The sanctions were announced on a day of relative calm after a week of renewed conflict, when three Qatari and Saudi commercial tankers came under Iranian fire, prompting the US to hit Iranian sites, and Iran to respond with strikes on US military sites in 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 would “continue using every tool at its disposal” to isolate Khamenei and other top Iranian officials from the global financial system.
Iran has said it is ready for “all-out defense” if the US violates the memorandum of understanding (MoU) agreed last month. Its top negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, vowed on Telegram that the war would never end with Tehran’s surrender.
Brett Erickson, managing principal at Obsidian Risk Advisors, said the new sanctions sent a clear message to Tehran. “Washington is no longer trying to salvage the existing framework. It’s preparing to replace it entirely,” he said.
The US Treasury on Friday sanctioned Iranian tycoon Ali Ansari, citing his links to Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei and the Revolutionary Guards, as part of a broader action targeting Iran’s financial networks.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control added Ansari, seven other… pic.twitter.com/YR8fcNVfMQ
— Iran International English (@IranIntl_En) July 10, 2026
Under Article 9 of the US-Iran MoU, Washington agreed that it “will not impose any new sanctions and will not deploy additional forces in the region.” Treasury said Ansari was previously the owner and director of the US-sanctioned and now-bankrupt Ayandeh Bank, which was shuttered under Iranian government orders in mid-October 2025.
It said he used numerous shell companies and bank accounts across multiple jurisdictions to accumulate millions of dollars’ worth of holdings under the 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 protected Ansari from facing 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 with the three exchange houses, as well as Hong Kong-based CDM Trading Limited, which it said was conducting financial transactions for those exchange houses, and Naba Alzaki Raw Materials Trading LLC, which is based in the United Arab Emirates.
