The United States has taken against eight digital asset service providers that help the Iranian regime evade sanctions and fund terrorism. The Department of the Treasury is designating these firms, which exchange Iranian rials and other currencies for digital assets so that the regime, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and other sanctioned actors can move money into and out of Iran.
Several of these businesses sent funds to digital asset accounts linked to the IRGC and other terrorist activity. Many also dealt with Iranian cryptocurrency exchanges that the United States has already sanctioned. Some changed their names and addresses to avoid detection, and all of them kept operating despite public reporting on the risks they posed.
In August, the Treasury Department launched Operation Economic Outcast to sever the economic lifelines that sustain the Iranian regime and its IRGC. The United States will continue to cut off revenue the Iranian regime uses to fund terrorism, weapons proliferation, and its proxies across the Middle East. These designations deepen Iran’s economic isolation and target its growing use of digital assets to get around sanctions. It follows U.S. sanctions earlier this year on Iranian digital asset exchanges that moved money for the regime and the IRGC. Anyone, anywhere in the world, who helps Tehran evade sanctions risks being held accountable.
The Treasury Department noted that Canada is home to hundreds of money services businesses that enable the movement of funds into and out of Iran. The entities designated in this newest action allow sanctioned Iranian entities to use their services, thereby providing the Iranian regime with financial lifelines and the ability to continue to finance terrorism and proxy groups.
The United States coordinated this action closely with Canada, including Canada’s financial intelligence unit, FINTRAC. It reflects our shared commitment to protecting the North American financial system from abuse. Several of the designated businesses also laundered proceeds from drug trafficking, which shows how the same illicit networks serve both Iran and criminal organizations that threaten the safety of our communities.
“Canada cannot be a safe haven for illicit financial facilitators that provide sanctions evasion services to the Iranian regime and its proxies,” said Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent. “Treasury will pursue and disrupt the Iranian regime’s financial channels anywhere in the world.”