US sanctions crypto exchanges accused of moving money for Iran
Treasury targets two digital-asset platforms and a multinational network it says helped Tehran move hundreds of millions of dollars
WASHINGTON (MNTV) — The United States on Friday imposed new sanctions on companies, currency-exchange houses, and financial operators it accused of helping Iran secretly move hundreds of millions of dollars through the international financial system.
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, which administers US sanctions, targeted two digital-asset exchanges — Shelbit Exchange and Aban Tether — along with Siavash Kayvanpour, described as the network’s ringleader. Kayvanpour, born in Iran and holding additional citizenship from Dominica and Afghanistan, has lived in the United Arab Emirates and runs a multinational web of companies that the department said supports illicit cryptocurrency activity.
Treasury alleged that cryptocurrency accounts belonging to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps — the elite branch of Iran’s military — sent the equivalent of more than $1 million in digital assets to Shelbit, which in turn moved several million dollars more to Guard-linked accounts and to Nobitex, a previously sanctioned Iranian exchange.
Aban Tether, an Iran-based platform, processed millions of dollars in transactions involving other blacklisted Iranian platforms. The allegations could not be independently verified.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said purchases of Iranian oil by small independent Chinese refiners, known as “teapots,” remain the main economic lifeline for the Iranian government, which he called the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism.
He said Tehran’s reliance on digital assets and shadow banking showed that US economic pressure — part of the campaign Washington calls Operation Economic Fury — was working, and vowed to keep dismantling the networks keeping the government afloat.
The sanctions block any US property or assets of those named and bar dealings with entities they own by at least half.
The State Department’s Rewards for Justice program offered up to $15 million for information disrupting the financing of Iran’s military, while a separate whistleblower program offered awards for tips on sanctions violations.
Spokesperson Tommy Pigott said the measures aim to cut the financial lifelines sustaining Iran’s ruling elite.
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