The United States has imposed sanctions on Dubai-based Iranian financier Ali Ansari after Tehran resumed attacks on international shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

The Treasury Department described Ansari as a key financial facilitator for Iran’s Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, accusing him of institutionalising large-scale embezzlement within the regime.

According to the official release, Ansari oversees a sprawling global network of assets benefiting Khamenei and other regime elites. He is alleged to have diverted publicly funded wealth into an extensive overseas portfolio of real estate and commercial holdings, enriching himself, senior figures within the Supreme Leader’s Office, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The Treasury stated that Ansari built his reputation by embedding embezzlement into the regime’s financial system. He amassed investment properties and financial holdings worldwide, both for Khamenei and for his own interests, leveraging his close ties to regime elites to consolidate wealth at the expense of the Iranian people.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent welcomed the move, declaring that these assets would be preserved for the Iranian population.

He emphasised that the so-called Supreme Leader is hiding in seclusion while his regime crumbles, and vowed that Washington would continue to use every tool available to isolate him and other elites from the global financial system.

The sanctions come amid heightened tensions following Iran’s renewed attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway critical to global energy supplies. The move underscores Washington’s determination to escalate economic pressure on Tehran by targeting its financial facilitators and cutting off access to international markets.

ANI