ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Saturday accused the United States of violating the US-Iran memorandum of understanding (MoU) after the Treasury Department imposed sanctions against an individual allegedly linked to Iran’s supreme leader.

The Treasury Department took action against “Iranian financial facilitator Ali Ansari (Ansari), who oversees a sprawling global network of assets benefitting Iran’s leader—Mojtaba Khamenei—and other regime elites,” the department said in a statement.

Araghchi clapped back, accusing US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent of violating paragraph nine of the US-Iran deal signed in mid-June, which stipulates that the two sides “agree to maintain the status quo,” and prohibits the US from imposing “any new sanctions.” 

“Iran has so far kept its word, unlike the so-called U.S. Treasury Secretary who is violating Para [paragraph] 9 of the MoU,” Araghchi said, adding that it “follows other violations and missteps by the United States,” in a post on X.

Article nine of the memo asserts: “The Islamic Republic of Iran will maintain the current status quo of its nuclear program, and the United States of America will not impose any new sanctions and will not deploy additional forces in the region.”

The Treasury Department said that the new measure came in response to Iran’s “resumption of attacks on international shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.”

It accused Ansari of diverting public funds to enrich himself and “regime elites,” including “notable senior figures within the Supreme Leader’s Office—and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).”

Iranian attacks targeting a Qatari-flagged vessel and a Saudi-flagged oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday triggered retaliatory strikes from the US less than a day later.

The exchange of fire has continued since, with the US targeting ports in southern Iran while Tehran has resumed strikes against US bases in the Middle East, as both sides accuse the other of violating the memorandum of understanding.

Iran insists that vessels must transit using its designated passageways, while the US demands full freedom of navigation in the vital waterway.