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US Agency Announces Sanctions Against Iran-Connected Company and Employees
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during a meeting with a group of students in Tehran, Iran, Nov. 2, 2022. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
The United States’ Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced Friday sanctions on 7 individuals US officials say are tied to Iranian efforts to influence the American 2024 presidential election.
In a Friday statement, the Department of Treasury claims that Iranian “state actors” engaged in a number of activities, such as hack-and-leak operations and spear-phishing, to impact American elections. The agency says that these individuals have attempted to “undermine confidence in the United States’ election processes and institution .” Thus, the U.S. government will block “all property and interests” belonging to the implicated parties.
“The U.S. government continues to closely monitor efforts by malicious actors to influence or interfere in the integrity of our elections,” said Bradley T. Smith, the Acting Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. “Treasury, as part of a whole-of-government effort leveraging all available tools and authorities, remains strongly committed to holding accountable those who see to undermine our institutions.”
Government agencies first acknowledged Iranian attempts to create instability among the American public in the summer of 2024, amid a deluge of demonstrations condemning Israel’s response to the Oct. 7 Hamas slaughters of roughly 1200 people across the Jewish state. According to the Department of Treasury, Iranian state actors have attempted to “gain access to individuals with direct access to the presidential campaigns” to exercise “influence” over the American elections. The agency alleges that government actors for Iran, the chief global sponsor of terrorism, have utilized “hacking” attacks to impact the upcoming elections.
According to the agency, Iranian agents have engaged in “cyber-enabled operations” during the 2020 and 2024 presidential elections in the U.S. Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) members have gained unauthorized access to multiple accounts belonging to high-ranking members of a 2024 presidential campaign. These agents subsequently leaked the information to the media in an effort to influence electoral outcomes. The agents reportedly used “technical infrastructure” tied to Masoud Jalili, an actor with reported IRGC ties.
OFAC also claims that six employees and executives of Emennet Pasargad, an Iran-based cybersecurity firm, implemented an “online operation to intimidate and influence American voters.” The individuals—Fatemeh Sadeghi, Elaheh Yazdi, Sayyed Mehdi Rahimi Hajjiabadi, Mohammad Hosein Abdolrahimi, and Rahmatollah Askarizadeh—accomplished this through sending “threatening emails to intimidate voters.”
In April, a confidential document leak indicated that the IRGC has helped plan a litany of anti-Israel protests in the United States. Iran’s support for anti-Israel demonstrations in the United States is well documented. The regime’s so-called “supreme leader,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has repeatedly heaped praise on anti-Israel protesters, referring to the demonstrations as a “courageous, humane resistance movement.” He has also commended the protesters as a “branch of the Resistance Front” against Israel. Flags representing Hamas and Hezbollah, another Iranian-backed terrorist group — have regularly appeared at anti-Israel demonstrations across the United States.
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Hostage Deal talks Stalled as Hamas Rejects New Israeli Framework – Report
US President Donald Trump and Qatar’s Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani attend a signing ceremony in Doha, Qatar, May 14, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Brian Snyder
i24 News – i24NEWS’s diplomatic affairs correspondent, Amichai Stein, reported Sunday evening that negotiations over a potential hostage deal have hit a standstill.
According to political sources, “the negotiations are stalled, Hamas is refusing the new framework presented by Israel.”
Throughout the day, no direct negotiation meetings were held. Instead, the small security cabinet is set to convene this evening to discuss the state of the talks.
There is also speculation of a potential meeting between Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and US President Donald Trump to address the impasse and broader regional dynamics.
In parallel, Arab diplomats have reportedly issued a warning to Israel regarding its plan to construct a “humanitarian city” in Gaza. According to sources, diplomats cautioned that the initiative could harm the fragile fabric of the Abraham Accords and inflame regional tensions.
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Iran: ‘Israel Will Pay the Price’ for Allegedly Trying to Kill Pezeshkian
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian delivers a speech during the National Army Day parade ceremony in Tehran, Iran, April 18, 2025. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
i24 News – Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian was slightly injured in the leg during an Israeli airstrike, according to a report on Sunday by the Iranian news agency Fars, prompting Iran to launch a widespread probe to root out suspected moles that infiltrated the Islamic Republic’s highest ranks.
Al Jazeera cited an unnamed Iranian official who said, “The assassination attempt on President Pezeshkian will not go unanswered – Israel will pay the price.”
According to Fars, which has ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the attack took place on the morning of Monday, June 16, while a meeting of the Supreme National Security Council was held on the lower floors of a building in western Tehran. In addition to the Iranian president, Speaker of Parliament Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, the head of the judiciary Mohseni Ajei, as well as other senior regime officials were attending this meeting.
Six bombs or missiles targeted the entry and exit points of the building in order to block evacuation routes and disrupt air circulation, the report said. This operation is said to have been inspired by the elimination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut last year. Following the explosions, power was cut on that floor, but the leaders managed to escape through an emergency exit prepared in advance.
Pezeshkian and several other officials sustained minor leg injuries during the evacuation, according to the agency. Given the accuracy of the information used in the attack, the media outlet reports that authorities are investigating the possibility of collaboration with Israel.
Official confirmation and reactions
A few days earlier, a high-ranking military leader in the Revolutionary Guards, Mohsen Rezaei, had stated on state television that Israel had “attacked six locations where the Supreme National Security Council had gathered, but none of its members had suffered even minor injuries.”
Pezeshkian had previously accused Israel of having attempted to assassinate him. “They tried, yes,” he told American journalist Tucker Carlson during an interview last week. “They acted accordingly, but they failed.”
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Hezbollah Violates Ceasefire 7 Times a Day on Average, IDF Figures Show
A drone view of buildings in Lebanon, next to the Israel-Lebanon border, following the ceasefire between Israel and Iran-backed terror group Hezbollah, as seen from Metula in northern Israel, Dec. 2, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ilan Rosenberg
i24 News – The Shiite jihadists of Hezbollah violate the ceasefire agreement with Israel more than seven times a day on average, according to Israel Defense Forces data obtained by i24NEWS and made public for the first time on Saturday.
Israel has flagged upward of 1,200 violations by Hezbollah in its report to the US-led five-country monitoring panel tasked with supervising the implementation of the ceasefire agreement.
Of these, 650 violations were relayed to the Lebanese army for handling, while the rest of the times the IDF responded by attacking the violators.
The Lebanese army has identified 390 additional violations on its own initiative and filed a report saying that it had handled them.
Thus official data shows that the Lebanese army handled 52% of all violations, and 440 of the targets Israel flagged by Israel.
The majority of the infractions the Lebanese army manages to stem are concentrated in the south of the country.
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