U.S. Imposes New Sanctions on Iran, Targeting Elite Financial Networks | WPN World People News

Less than three weeks after a ceasefire agreement between the United States and Iran, renewed clashes have erupted. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) attacked cargo vessels and threatened to shut down the Strait of Hormuz, while the U.S. military launched large-scale airstrikes against Iran for several consecutive days. Iran retaliated by targeting U.S. military bases in Kuwait and Bahrain, reigniting hostilities between the two sides.

Amid the escalating tensions, the United States has imposed a new round of sanctions on Iran, targeting key financial backers of the country’s leadership. On the 10th, the U.S. Treasury Department announced new sanctions against individuals including Dubai-based Iranian banker Ali Ansari, who had previously been sanctioned by the United Kingdom for allegedly providing financial support to the IRGC. The United States accused Ansari of transferring funds overseas and enabling himself and senior Iranian officials to profit from the transactions.

The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) also sanctioned three Iran-based exchanges and several foreign shell companies. It said the targeted Iranian banks had used these entities to move billions of dollars annually and relied on networks of shell companies to conceal what Washington described as the Iranian government’s illicit commercial activities.

U.S. State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said, “The United States is taking action to cut off the financial lifelines that sustain Iran’s ruling elites and will directly undermine Iran’s ability to obtain foreign currency and engage in international finance.”

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the department would continue using all available tools to remove Mojtaba Khamenei and other senior Iranian officials from the global financial system.