US expands Iran sanctions to digital assets, citing over $100M in oil-linked crypto payments

The US Treasury has widened its Iran sanctions framework to cover the country’s digital asset sector, saying crypto has been used to move more than $100 million tied to Iranian oil sales. For PSPs, exchanges, banks, and compliance teams, the practical message is simple: exposure to Iran is no longer just a wallet-by-wallet problem; OFAC now has a sector-level hook.

1. On Monday, the Treasury said the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued sectoral sanctions determinations covering digital assets, technology, gold, aviation and shipping. It also sanctioned nearly 60 entities, individuals and vessels across nuclear, missile, cyber and oil networks.
2. The digital asset determination lets OFAC sanction foreign individuals and companies that operate in, or provide services supporting, Iran’s digital asset sector. The Treasury said Iran increasingly uses crypto as a “tool of choice for sanctions evasion,” including for transactions linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and government insiders.
3. Among the named targets, the Treasury alleged that UAE-based Ukrainian broker Ivan Obukhov processed over $100 million in crypto payments since 2023 to facilitate oil sales on behalf of the IRGC’s Quds Force. OFAC sanctioned Obukhov and his UAE-based company, Foscom FZE.
4. The move follows a series of US actions against specific crypto venues and wallets linked to Iran. In January, OFAC sanctioned UK-registered Zedcex and Zedxion, its first Iran-related designations of digital asset exchanges. On June 3, the Treasury sanctioned four Iranian crypto exchanges, including Nobitex, the country’s largest platform.
5. More recently, OFAC sanctioned Shelbit and Aban Tether on Aug. 7, alleging they facilitated a combined $5 million in digital assets connected to Iran. The Treasury said the latest determination “significantly expands” its ability to sanction foreign individuals and companies in the covered sectors, and that foreign banks facilitating significant transactions for designated parties could face restrictions on access to US accounts.

For high-risk payment flows, the detail that matters is the sector-wide logic. The Treasury is no longer relying only on named exchange designations; it now has a framework to hit companies providing infrastructure, services, or settlement support around Iran’s digital asset activity.