US expands Iran secondary sanctions, applying sector designation to digital assets for the first time
The U.S. Treasury on Aug. 24 launched what the source describes as an "economic expulsion" action against Iran, widening secondary sanctions to five sectors: aviation, cryptocurrency, gold, shipping, and technology. Treasury said the move targets economic channels that sustain the Iranian regime and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, while adding nearly 60 Iran-linked entities, individuals, and vessels to the sanctions list. According to the Treasury statement cited in the report, Iran has used crypto to evade sanctions, gold to hedge inflation, aviation networks to move weapons and funds, and shipping networks to transport oil illicitly. The report says this is the first time Executive Order 13902 sector designation has been applied to the digital asset industry, allowing the Office of Foreign Assets Control to sanction foreign persons operating in, or supporting, designated sectors of Iran's economy without separately establishing links to terrorism, weapons proliferation, or other sanctioned parties. It also highlights crypto-related cases including UAE-based freight broker Ivan Obukhov, who was accused of handling more than $100 million in crypto payments since 2023 for Iranian oil sales tied to the IRGC-QF, and several individuals allegedly linked to an Iran Ministry of Intelligence-directed cybercrime group. Foresight also cited Beosin's on-chain review of 37 sanctioned crypto addresses across BTC, ETH, and TRON, tracing flows to exchanges including Binance, CoinEx, BingX, WhiteBit, Kucoin, and Bybit.
