Trump admin sanctions alleged global network funding Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei

WASHINGTON, DC: President Donald Trump's administration expanded its financial campaign against Iran by sanctioning an alleged overseas network that US officials say helps fund fund Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei and other regime elites.

The move came after renewed military pressure on Iran, with Treasury officials casting the sanctions as another effort to cut off the leadership's access to the global financial system. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also said the administration intends to preserve blocked assets "for the Iranian people."

Treasury targets Mojtaba Khamenei's alleged network

The Treasury Department announced sanctions Friday, July 10, against Dubai-based businessman Ali Ansari, three Iranian currency exchanges and two alleged front companies in Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates, according to the New York Post report.

According to the department, Ansari "oversees a sprawling global network of assets benefitting Iran's leader."

Besent accused Iran's leadership of shielding itself while the country faces growing pressure.

"The so-called Supreme Leader is hiding in seclusion while his regime crumbles," Bessent said. "Treasury will continue using every tool at its disposal to isolate him and other regime elites from the global financial system."

“We will preserve these assets for the Iranian people," he added.

The sanctions were announced “after two nights of resumed US airstrikes on Iran and a third strike carried out by an unidentified country following Iranian attacks earlier in the week on three commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz,” the report said.

Treasury alleges Ansari built Khamenei's overseas empire

Treasury alleged that Ansari "has effectively institutionalized large-scale embezzlement within the Iranian regime," saying he diverted publicly funded wealth into an extensive overseas portfolio of real estate and commercial holdings.

The department also linked Ansari to the now-defunct Ayandeh Bank, which it said accumulated billions of dollars in losses before Mojtaba Khamenei succeeded his father as supreme leader.

According to Treasury, the bank "racked up billions in debt as it issued loans backed by the Central Bank of Iran to Ansari's own companies and commercial ventures in Iran," allowing him to expand "an overseas business empire on behalf of Mojtaba Khamenei."

Officials further alleged that, through a company registered in Saint Kitts and Nevis, Ansari acquired property and investments across Cyprus, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain, the UAE and the United Kingdom.

"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," the department said.

Exchange houses added to sanctions list

Treasury also imposed sanctions on three currency exchange houses and two international partner companies that officials say helped connect sanctioned Iranian banks to the global financial system, the report cited.

The department said the exchange houses "move and maintain the equivalent of billions of dollars annually on behalf of sanctioned Iranian banks," using "vast layers of cover and shell companies" to conceal the parties behind the transactions.

It also identified "Hong Kong-based CDM Trading Limited and UAE-based Naba Alzaki Raw Materials Trading LLC as alleged front companies used by Iranian exchange houses. All five businesses were added to the latest round of US sanctions," the report said.