The United States The Treasury Department has sanctioned Two Iranian financial facilitators and 16 entities based in Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates for having pretended to coordinate more than $ 100 million in cryptocurrency to finance revolutionary and military operations in Iran.
The target action what the Treasury called the Iranian networks of “flower benches” which use societies abroad and cryptocurrencies to escape sanctions and whiten money for the force of the guarded Islamic Revolutionary Guard and the Iranian Ministry of Defense and the Armed Forces.
Between 2023 and 2025, Iranian nationals Alireza Derakhshan and Arash Estaki Alivand coordinated the purchase of more than $ 100 million cryptocurrency for Iranian oil sales, using a network of companies before in several jurisdictions to transfer digital money funds.
“ Iranian entities are counting on parallel banking networks to escape sanctions and browse millions of people in the international financial system, ” a under-secretary with terrorism and financial intelligence John Hurley said, describing him to be part of the campaign of “ Maximum Pressure ” of President Donald Trump.
The sanctioned network includes water -based companies entitled Unique Trading Station, Minato Investment, Everest Investment and Alliance First Trading which, according to the Treasury, knowingly facilitated illicit funds for Iranian military purchases.
The action represents the second cycle of sanctions targeting the parallel banking infrastructure of Iran since Trump published a directive in February, ordering maximum pressure on Iran. The Treasury had previously sanctioned the Network of Zarringhalam brothers in June for having turned billions through houses on the stock market and companies.
Iranian networks of the shaded bank allow sanctioned military organizations to access the international financial system and to facilitate oil exports, with the product of arms programs, including ballistic and drones that threaten American and allies.
The action of the Treasury freezes the American assets of individuals and designated entities and prohibits Americans from carrying out business with them, while warning that foreign financial institutions risk secondary sanctions to facilitate transactions with the network.
