US Treasury Expands Sanctions Reach Over Iran’s Crypto Sector

The U.S. Treasury has expanded its sanctions reach to cover anyone in the world operating in Iran’s digital asset sector, as part of a broader campaign Secretary Scott Bessent described as “Economic D-Day.” The Office of Foreign Assets Control issued five sectoral determinations under Executive Order 13902, covering digital assets, technology, gold, aviation and shipping. Treasury said the digital assets determination allows OFAC to designate any foreign person operating in or providing services to that sector, regardless of where they are based. Treasury said that power had previously applied to Iran’s financial and petroleum industries. Today, at President Trump’s direction, the U.S. Department of the Treasury has begun Operation Economic Outcast: an unprecedented, whole-of-government, economic campaign against the Islamic Republic of Iran and its enablers. https://t.co/bvOAn6GPyP — Treasury Department (@USTreasury) August 24, 2026 Treasury said the Iranian regime “increasingly turns to cryptocurrency as a tool of choice for sanctions evasion,” pointing to transactions tied to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and regime insiders. Bessent framed the campaign, formally called Operation Economic Outcast, in wartime language. He said the goal was “to sever every economic lifeline that sustains this tyrannical regime until Tehran stands alone.” Treasury also said countries would be given individual timelines to end Iran-related activity before secondary sanctions follow. The roughly 60 entities, individuals and vessels named alongside the determinations included two with direct crypto links. Ivan Obukhov, a Ukrainian national based in the United Arab Emirates, has processed more than $100 million in cryptocurrency payments since 2023 to facilitate oil sales on behalf of the IRGC’s Qods Force, according to Treasury. Treasury said Obukhov had brokered shadow fleet vessels for years and owns UAE-based Foscom FZE, which was designated alongside him. Arman Kahzadian, described by Treasury as part of a group of cyber actors directed by Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security, focused on digital asset theft. Treasury said he took control of a wallet holding more than $30,000 in bitcoin in the summer of 2023. Treasury said the amount was small compared with the oil payments, but still enough to justify a designation under the cyber sanctions authority. The move follows two earlier actions against Iranian crypto activity. OFAC sanctioned exchange Nobitex over terrorist financing, and this month designated firms that accepted bitcoin in exchange for safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran rejected the campaign before it landed. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called Washington “desperate” and said the measures were “the same movie they keep playing over and over again,” adding that previous blockades and military moves had failed. Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said any country that takes part in sanctions against Iran “will be regarded as an enemy.” The rial fell to a record open-market low of 2.02 million to the dollar on Monday. On Myriad, a prediction market owned by Decrypt’s parent company Dastan, traders put the odds of Washington announcing an end to the naval blockade it reimposed on Iranian shipping in July at 6% by August 31, 43% by the end of September and 76% by the end of the year.