Overview
- Britain imposed an asset freeze, a travel ban and a director disqualification on Aliakbar Ansari after accusing him of financing the IRGC.
- The Foreign Office labeled Ansari a corrupt banker who facilitated hostile activity by Iran’s government, with minister Hamish Falconer condemning threats carried out in the UK.
- Ansari is a major shareholder in Bank Ayandeh, which Iran’s central bank dissolved last week over longstanding debts after the bank financed Tehran’s Iran Mall project.
- MI5 has reported a sharp rise in Iran-linked threats, citing more than 20 potentially deadly plots last year, while counter-terrorism police arrested seven Iranians in May.
- The move extends a UK sanctions campaign that has previously targeted parts of the IRGC and senior Iranian figures, including after Iran’s April missile and drone attack on Israel.