Esfanjani, Ali

"Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and the United Kingdom are taking joint action against a network of individuals that targeted Iranian dissidents and opposition activists for assassination at the direction of the Iranian regime. The network is led by Iranian narcotics trafficker Naji Ibrahim Sharifi-Zindashti (Zindashti) and operates at the behest of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS). Zindashti’s network has carried out numerous acts of transnational repression including assassinations and kidnappings across multiple jurisdictions in an attempt to silence the Iranian regime’s perceived critics. The network has also plotted operations in the United States... Zindashti has previously cooperated with the MOIS to target regime dissidents... In 2019, the MOIS used Zindashti and his men to assassinate former Iranian cybersecurity official turned regime critic Mas’ud Vardanjani (Vardanjani) in Istanbul. Vardanjani, who was outspoken in his condemnation of the Iranian regime, publicly disclosed documents exposing financial corruption and assassinations by the regime via his Telegram channel. As part of the MOIS plot, Ali Esfanjani (Esfanjani) befriended Vardanjani, fed the MOIS information about him, and ultimately led him to the location where he was assassinated by Abdulvahap Kocak."¹

"As part of a plot by the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) and the Zindasthi Network, Ali Esfanjani befriended Iranian dissident Mas’ud Molavi Vardanjani, fed the MOIS information about him and led him to the place where he was killed by Abdulvahap Kocak. As such, Ali Esfanjani is associated with Naji Zindashti and the Zindashti Network that are responsible for serious human rights violations or abuses, including extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary killings. He is also directly involved in an extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary killing by assisting in, preparing or facilitating that killing."²

Sources:

1. https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy2052 

2. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=OJ:L_202501396