The Office of Foreign Assets Control of the US Department of the Treasury has designated five individuals and one company pursuant to the counterterrorism authority of Executive Order 13224, as amended, for their roles in planning assassination plots and violent action against US government officials, dual US-Iranian nationals, journalists, and political activists around the world.
Among the individuals designated are Mohammad Reza Ansari, an official in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (“IRGC-QF”) responsible for covert operations abroad on behalf of the sanctioned organization, and Hossein Hafez Amini, a dual Turkish-Iranian national who uses the airline he owns, Türkiye-based Rey Havacilik Ithalat Ihracat Sanayi Ve Ticaret Anonim Sirketi, and contacts in the aviation industry, to support the IRGC-QF’s operations. The airline has also been designated, along with the former counterespionage department chief and current foreign intelligence chief of the intelligence organization of the IRGC. Another of the designated individuals, Shahram Poursafi, was indicted by the US Department of Justice in August 2022 for providing material support to a transnational murder plot against two former US officials.
As a result of these designations, all property and interests in property of these six designees within the United States or within the possession or control of a US person are blocked, and US persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions involving the designated persons.