US sanctions Iran-linked exchange houses, shell companies

The US on Friday imposed new sanctions targeting companies, exchange houses and financial facilitators it said helped Iran secretly move hundreds of millions of dollars through the international financial system.

“Teapot refinery purchases of Iranian oil provide the primary economic lifeline for the Iranian regime, the world’s leading state sponsor of terror,” Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent said in a statement.

The US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control took action against digital asset exchanges and a multinational corporate network that it accused the Iranian regime of relying on to launder billions of dollars.

The department targeted two major digital asset exchanges, Shelbit Exchange and Aban Tether, alongside ringleader Siavash Kayvanpour.

The release stated: “Siavash Kayvanpour (Kayvanpour), who was born in Iran, has additional citizenship from Dominica and Afghanistan, and has resided in the United Arab Emirates, operates a multi-nation network of companies that support illicit digital currency activity.”

Bessent stated that the Iranian regime's reliance on digital assets and shadow banking networks proved that Economic Fury worked.

He added that the Treasury would continue to increase economic pressure and “will hunt down and dismantle the illicit financial networks that keep the regime afloat.”

Digital currency addresses belonging to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps sent the equivalent of over $1 million in digital assets to Shelbit Exchange addresses, the release alleged.

The exchange also transferred more than $2 million to the military group's addresses and another $2 million to Nobitex, a previously designated Iranian exchange, it added.

Aban Tether, another Iran-based platform, processed millions of dollars in transactions involving previously designated Iranian platforms, according to the US Treasury.

The Treasury Department blocked all property and interests of these designated persons in the US.

Officials also required institutions to block any entities owned 50% or more by these individuals.

The US State Department's Rewards for Justice program offered a reward of up to $15 million for information leading to the disruption of the financial mechanisms of Iran's military branches.

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's whistleblower program offered awards for information on sanctions violations leading to penalties exceeding $1 million.

In a separate statement, State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said the measures are intended to “cut the financial lifelines that sustain Iran's ruling elite.”

“Through these networks, Tehran accessed oil revenue and evaded sanctions designed to curb its destabilizing activities, laundering funds using front companies,” Pigott said.