The U.S. government announced new sanctions Friday against Iranian financier Babak Zanjani and his network, targeting four individuals and nine entities accused of helping the Iranian regime evade sanctions and finance destabilizing activities, including support for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
“The Iranian regime continues to pay a steep economic price for its reckless behavior, with the rial plunging to another record low and inflation up massively,” Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent said in a statement.
“Under President Trump’s leadership, Treasury will continue cutting off economic access for corrupt Iranian regime elites, along with their financiers and facilitators," Bessent added.
"The United States is holding Babak Zanjani and his sprawling network accountable for enabling the Iranian regime to evade sanctions and finance its destabilizing activities, including supporting the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. This action applies further pressure on the Iranian regime following its attacks on commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz and regional neighbors," State Department spokesman Tommy Piggott also wrote in a statement.
"Today’s action targets four individuals and nine entities tied to Zanjani’s operations. Zanjani’s re-emergence as a regime-linked financier—despite previously receiving a death sentence in Iran for embezzlement—demonstrates the lengths to which Iranian state-affiliated elites will go to preserve access to the international financial system so that they can enrich themselves, even as they mismanage the Iranian economy," Piggott continued.
"The United States calls on governments and financial institutions worldwide not to engage with entities connected to Zanjani or the broader networks that prop up Iran’s security apparatus. The Iranian regime is the world’s leading state sponsor of terror, and for more than 40 years has used the IRGC to foment instability in the region and beyond. We will continue to expose and disrupt networks that provide the regime and its proxies with the resources they use to undermine U.S. national security interests," his statement concluded.
The Treasury Department also included details about the conglomerates they sanctioned, including the Dot One Conglomerate, which Zanjani heads.
"Zanjani has frequently used his social media profiles to promote and celebrate Dot One ventures, including the April 2025 $800 million rail contract Dot One Rail Company secured with the Islamic Republic of Iran Railways. As both Iranian and international press have increasingly scrutinized Zanjani’s role within the Dot One conglomerate, the companies have obfuscated their ties with him," the statement read.
