The United States has imposed sanctions on Iran’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Nobitex, accusing it of aiding the Iranian government in evading international sanctions. Announced on Tuesday (June 2), the U.S. Treasury Department cited Nobitex for processing hundreds of millions of dollars for Iran’s central bank and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
According to a Reuters report, Nobitex is allegedly part of a parallel financial system that allows Iran to circumvent Western sanctions. The exchange reportedly continued to operate even during government-imposed internet shutdowns, processing significant transactions.
The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has also sanctioned three other Iranian digital asset platforms as part of its “Economic Fury” campaign, aimed at exerting maximum pressure on the Iranian regime. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated, “While Iran’s economy is in free fall, the regime has chosen to co-opt digital asset technologies for its own corrupt agenda.”
The sanctions target Nobitex’s chairman and co-founder Amir Hossein Rad, as well as co-founders Seyed Mohammad Ali Aghamir Mohammad Ali and Seyed Mohammad Aghamir Mohammad Ali, who are members of the influential Kharrazi family. The Jerusalem Post reports that these individuals are closely connected to Iran’s new supreme leader.
Nobitex has denied any direct government connections, asserting that any illicit funds moving through the platform did so without management’s approval or awareness. However, the U.S. Treasury has frozen nearly half a billion dollars in regime-linked cryptocurrency and warned of potential secondary sanctions on foreign financial institutions facilitating Iran’s activities.