WASHINGTON (AP) — A pair of Iranian financiers and more than a dozen people and firms across Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates were sanctioned Tuesday for allegedly coordinating $100 million worth of cryptocurrency transfers from the sale of Iranian oil for the benefit of Iran's government and military.
Treasury alleges that Iranian nationals Alireza Derakhshan and Arash Estaki Alivand facilitated the purchase of over $100 million worth of cryptocurrency for oil sales for the Iranian government. The pair then used a network of front companies across countries to transfer the cryptocurrency funds, Treasury says.
So-called “shadow banking" networks like these evade sanctions by laundering money through overseas front companies and cryptocurrency.
Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence John K. Hurley said in a statement that the U.S. "will continue to disrupt these key financial streams that fund Iran’s weapons programs and malign activities in the Middle East and beyond.”
To authorize the sanctions, the U.S. used an executive order that President Donald Trump issued in February called the National Security Presidential Memorandum 2, which calls for the U.S. to “drive Iran’s export of oil to zero.” It also states that Iran “can never be allowed to acquire or develop nuclear weapons.”
Among other things, the sanctions deny the people and firms access to any property or financial assets held in the United States and prevent U.S. companies and citizens from doing business with them.
Iran and other sanctioned nations have increasingly used cryptocurrency to evade sanctions. The crypto tracking firm Chainalysis reports that sanctioned jurisdictions and entities, like Iran, received $15.8 billion in cryptocurrency in 2024, accounting for about 39% of all illicit crypto transactions.
The latest sanctions also come after France, Britain and Germany triggered a “ snapback mechanism ” that automatically reimposes all United Nations sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program, saying Iran has willfully departed from their 2015 nuclear deal that lifted the measures.
The U.S. and Iran tried to reach a new nuclear deal earlier this year, but those talks have not resumed since the 12-day Israeli bombardment of Iran’s nuclear and military sites and the U.S. bombardment on June 22.
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Associated Press reporter Stephanie Liechtenstein in Vienna contributed to this report.