U.S. Treasury brings Iran's crypto sector under sanctions authority

The U.S. Department of the Treasury announced on August 24 that it has placed Iran's digital asset sector under the same sanctions authority it has long applied to Iran's oil, banking, and metals industries. According to Bitcoin Magazine, the action enables the Office of Foreign Assets Control to designate any person globally, regardless of location, for facilitating transactions supporting Iran's crypto use.

The designation carries material consequences: foreign exchanges, OTC desks, payment processors, and infrastructure providers that knowingly facilitate transactions tied to Iran's digital asset sector now face designation themselves and loss of access to the U.S. financial system. Per OFAC's statement cited in the reporting, the Iranian regime has increasingly turned to cryptocurrency as a tool for sanctions evasion, including transactions linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Iranian regime insiders.

As part of the announcement, OFAC designated three members of a group within Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security accused of hacking U.S. critical infrastructure: Behzad Mesri (identified as group co-leader), Keyvan Fayyaz Ghareh Blagh, and Arman Kahzadian. Each designation included bitcoin and other crypto addresses added to Treasury's sanctioned list.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent framed the action as part of Operation Economic Outcast, described as a sustained campaign against the Iranian regime. The timing follows reporting in May 2026 that Iran had launched a bitcoin-backed insurance service for Iranian shipping companies, and a July 2026 U.S. announcement that it had frozen crypto assets, predominantly in the form of Tether stablecoins, linked to the Iranian regime.

The distinction between stablecoins and decentralized assets emerged in the coverage: stablecoins like Tether can be frozen by their issuers, but bitcoin, having no single issuer, cannot be frozen in the same manner. The sources do not detail whether OFAC has designated specific exchanges or infrastructure providers under the new authority since the announcement.