Almaty-based company Tur Invest risks secondary US sanctions due to cooperation with Iranian airline Mahan Air, reports infohub.kz.
The US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has added the Kazakh legal entity to its registry. According to the US agency's documents, Tur Invest has been flagged with "Secondary sanctions risk," meaning it faces potential restrictions rather than immediate sanctions. For active restrictions, the regulator uses the phrase "Subject to Secondary Sanctions."
Tur Invest has been operating since 2014 and holds small business status. It employs fewer than five people and has paid taxes totaling 18.2 million tenge. Its registration documents list a single activity: operating as a tour operator, according to data from Adata.
The company is owned by two co-founders: Ansar Duisengaliyev, who also heads Zhetisu Hotel and Crystal Bay Kazakhstan (both marked as inactive), and Ziai Babak Ali, co-owner and director of Tur Invest, who also leads the Iranian Business Center in Kazakhstan.
The updated OFAC list includes legal entities from Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Turkey, the UAE, and the UK. All were flagged due to ties with Iranian carrier Mahan Air, which previously operated direct flights to Almaty (now suspended).
The US authorities' claims are not related to organizing civilian passenger transportation. According to OFAC, Tehran uses foreign intermediaries and lengthens transport routes to covertly purchase American aviation parts and technologies.
In April 2026, Kursiv reported that the European Union imposed sanctions on a Kazakh company and businessmen for aiding Russia.