People walk past a billboard featuring a photo of Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, following reports that the U.S. and Iran have reached an agreement to end their conflict and reopen the Strait of Hormuz in Tehran, Iran, on June 15, 2026. — Reuters
– The U.S. has targeted a major financier supporting Iran’s Supreme Leader among a new set of sanctions.
– Dubai-based banker Ali Ansari is sanctioned by the U.S. due to alleged links to Iran, including supporting Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and other entities.
– The Treasury Department’s Bessent states that the U.S. aims to isolate Iran’s leadership financially.
– New sanctions target Ali Ansari, an Iranian banker and businessman based in Dubai, previously sanctioned by Britain, for diverting public funds into a vast overseas portfolio of real estate and commercial assets to benefit himself, Iranian officials, and the IRGC.
– The Treasury also sanctioned three Iran-based currency exchange houses and foreign front companies that process billions of dollars annually for sanctioned Iranian banks, often hiding activities behind shell companies.
– State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott emphasized that these measures are intended to cut off Iran’s ruling elite from their financial channels and disrupt their access to foreign currency and international banking.
– The sanctions coincide with a relatively quiet period following a week of heightened tensions, including Iranian attacks on Qatari and Saudi commercial tankers and subsequent U.S. strikes on Iranian targets in response, with Iran retaliating against U.S. military facilities in Gulf nations.
– President Donald Trump announced that the ceasefire with Iran had ended but indicated that negotiations would continue at Iran’s request.
– Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent reaffirmed ongoing efforts to isolate Iranian leaders from the global financial system.
– Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi claimed that Bessent’s actions broke the agreement outlined in their recent memorandum, accusing the U.S. of violations.
– Araghchi insisted that Iran has kept its commitments and warned that Iran is prepared for total defense if the U.S. breaches the deal, with top negotiator Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf asserting that Tehran will never capitulate.
– Risk analyst Brett Erickson commented that the new sanctions signal a shift from trying to maintain the current framework to actively replacing it.
– Under the terms of the U.S.-Iran agreement, the U.S. agreed not to impose new sanctions or deploy additional military forces in the region.
– The Treasury highlighted that Ansari formerly owned and directed Ayandeh Bank, which was sanctioned and liquidated in mid-October 2025.
– Ansari was found to have used numerous shell companies and bank accounts across various jurisdictions to amass millions in assets through the Saint Kitts and Nevis-based holding company, Smart Global Limited, established in 2011, which invested in real estate and commercial properties across Europe, the Gulf, and other regions.
– Despite holding assets in his name, many operated for the benefit of Mojtaba Khamenei, his family, and Iranian elite groups including the IRGC, who have shielded Ansari from repercussions despite his widespread corruption and the economic damage caused.
– The Office of Foreign Assets Control also imposed penalties on Iranian nationals associated with exchange houses and on foreign companies such as Hong Kong’s CDM Trading Limited and UAE-based Naba Alzaki Raw Materials Trading LLC, for facilitating financial transactions related to Iranian sanctions.
