OFAC Sanctions Iran Military Body, Government Officials

The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned Iran’s Armed Forces General Staff and nine government appointees of Iranian leader Ali Khamenei, Treasury said Nov. 4. The sanctions target officials in Khamenei’s office, the country’s Expediency Council and the judiciary, Treasury said.

Among the designations is Ebrahim Raisi, who was appointed to the head of Iran’s judiciary by Khamenei in 2018. Raisi led a judiciary that ruled in favor of “cruel” executions and other “degrading treatment” of prisoners, including arresting lawyers “for defending political prisoners,” Treasury said. Mojtaba Khamenei, one of Khamenei’s sons, was also sanctioned for serving in an official capacity despite not being elected. Also designated is Mohammad Mohammadi Golpayegani, Khamenei’s chief of staff; Vahid Haghanian, Khamenei’s “right hand”; Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior adviser; Mohammad Bagheri, a state official; and Gholam-Ali Hadad-Adel, Mojtaba Khamenei’s father-in-law.

OFAC also sanctioned the Armed Forces General Staff, the country’s “most senior military body, along with Khamenei’s military aides and commanders. The designations include Islamic Revolutionary Guard Force Brigadier General Hossein Dehghan and IRGC Commander Gholam Ali Rashid.

In the same notice, OFAC also removed two entries from the Specially Designated Nationals List with Venezuela-related connections: Monsoon Navigation Corporation, based in the Marshall Islands, and Ocean Elegance, a Panama-flagged crude oil tanker linked to Monsoon Navigation.