The US on Friday announced a new round of sanctions after Iran resumed attacks
on international shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. The Treasury designated
Dubai-based Iranian banker and businessman Ali Ansari — previously sanctioned by
the UK — as a key financier of Iran’s supreme leader Mojtaba, accusing him of
moving public wealth into overseas real estate and commercial assets to benefit
himself, regime elites and the IRGC. The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets
Control also designated major Iranian currency exchange houses, which it said
transfer tens of billions of dollars annually on behalf of sanctioned Iranian
banks and use multi-layered shell companies to conceal the government’s illicit
financial activity.
