WASHINGTON-Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is moving against digital asset exchanges that the Iranian regime relies on to launder billions of dollars, maintain covert access to international financial systems, and support the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), among other terrorist groups. This action targets two major digital asset exchanges used by Tehran, along with the ringleader of a network of front companies operating across multiple jurisdictions, facilitating illicit cryptocurrency activity and sanctions evasion. Iranian actors exploited unlicensed or lightly regulated digital currency exchange platforms to transfer large volumes of digital assets. They executed this scheme through sprawling corporate networks and an extensive online gambling enterprise that obscured the origin of the funds and ultimately laundered the illicit proceeds for the benefit of the IRGC and regime‑connected individuals.
“The Iranian regime’s reliance on digital assets and shadow banking networks is further evidence that Economic Fury is working,” said Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent. “We will continue to increase the economic pressure. Whether in dollars, rials, or crypto, Treasury will hunt down and dismantle the illicit financial networks that keep the regime afloat.”