U.S. sanctions five Iranian officials and shadow-banking networks

The U.S. Treasury on Thursday announced sanctions targeting five senior Iranian officials, the Fardis Prison and a network of shadow-banking actors accused of laundering billions in oil revenue, escalating pressure on Tehran amid a nationwide protest crackdown.

Treasury officials identified Ali Larijani as one of the five, naming him as the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council and accusing him of coordinating and calling for force against protesters. Four regional commanders in Iran’s Law Enforcement Forces and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were also sanctioned for their roles in violent operations in Lorestan and Fars provinces; the announcement did not provide their names. The Treasury said the moves were intended to sever financial lines that enable repression and to follow the flow of regime funds through international banks.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent linked the measures to human rights abuses, saying the United States "stands firmly behind the Iranian people in their call for freedom and justice" and that the Treasury "will use every tool to target those behind the regime’s tyrannical oppression of human rights." Bessent said the action was taken at the direction of President Donald Trump and that Washington would track regime leaders’ funds being wired to banks worldwide.

The sanctions freeze any assets of the designated individuals within U.S. jurisdiction and make it illegal for U.S. persons to conduct transactions with them. The Treasury also designated 18 individuals and entities described as operating shadow-banking systems that, it said, moved and concealed proceeds from Iranian oil sales through front companies in the United Arab Emirates, Singapore and Britain. The public announcement did not reproduce full identifying details for all 18 actors named.

Fardis Prison was explicitly designated in the package, reflecting U.S. concerns about detention conditions and treatment of dissenters. The Treasury accused security forces of a "brutal" response to what it called the largest anti-government protests in Iran’s history, and singled out a surge of gunshot victims in Fars hospitals that left medical facilities unable to treat other patients. Independent verification of casualty figures and on-the-ground conditions has been complicated by an almost week-long internet blackout inside Iran and heavy restrictions on independent reporting.

The sanctions arrive amid what U.S. officials describe as a broader maximum pressure campaign intended to reduce Iranian oil revenue and deter nuclear and regional ambitions. By naming both individuals and the financial networks that move money internationally, Washington aims to choke off resources that it says bankroll Tehran’s security apparatus and repression.

In a separate action, Israel designated Iran’s State Bank Melli as a terrorist organization. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the bank "operates one of the regime’s most extensive cover networks, for the purpose of circumventing international sanctions and laundering money," and called it "a government bank in the service of the regime." That designation was announced independently of the U.S. Treasury measures.

The U.S. announcement left several questions unresolved: only one senior official was publicly identified by name, and the four regional commanders were described by role and province rather than by personal identity. The full list and identifying details for the shadow-banking actors were not provided in the public summary, leaving analysts and financial institutions to seek the Treasury’s formal release for precise designations and implementation guidance.