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The United States Treasury has sanctioned two cryptocurrency exchanges linked to Iran’s financial system, marking the first time Washington has directly targeted digital asset platforms as part of its Iran sanctions program.
In a statement on Friday, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said the sanctions are part of a wider move against Iranian officials and networks accused of violently suppressing people at home while using alternative financial channels to get around international sanctions.
Among those sanctioned was Eskandar Momeni Kalagari, Iran’s minister of the interior, who oversees the country’s Law Enforcement Forces. “Treasury will continue to target Iranian networks and corrupt elites that enrich themselves at the expense of the Iranian people,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.
OFAC also designated Babak Morteza Zanjani, a well-known Iranian businessman previously convicted of embezzling billions of dollars in oil revenue from Iran’s national oil company. According to the Treasury, Zanjani was released from prison and later used by the Iranian state to help move and launder funds, providing financial support to projects tied to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
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US sanctions UK crypto exchanges over Iran links
The sanctions break new ground by extending to two UK-registered crypto exchanges, Zedcex Exchange Ltd. and Zedxion Exchange Ltd., which US officials say are linked to Zanjani and have processed large volumes of transactions connected to IRGC-linked entities. OFAC said Zedcex alone has handled more than $94 billion in transactions since its registration in 2022.
“This marks OFAC’s first designation of a digital asset exchange for operating in the financial sector of the Iranian economy,” the Treasury said.
Bessent accused Tehran of diverting oil revenues toward weapons programs and militant proxies instead of supporting its population. He said the United States would continue to target networks that exploit digital assets to bypass restrictions and finance illicit activity.
Beyond the crypto-related designations, OFAC also sanctioned senior IRGC commanders and security officials across multiple provinces, citing evidence of live-fire attacks on protesters, forced burials without funerals and widespread intimidation aimed at crushing dissent.
Related: Iran is cut off from the internet: Here’s how crypto could still work
Iran’s central bank used $500 million in USDt to support rial
Last week, blockchain analytics firm Elliptic said Iran’s central bank accumulated more than $500 million worth of Tether’s USDt (USDT) during a period of severe economic stress, likely using the stablecoin to support the collapsing rial or settle international trade.
The accumulation began as the currency lost roughly half its value in eight months, with Elliptic suggesting the bank used USDT on local exchange Nobitex to buy rials, mirroring traditional central bank market operations through crypto.
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