The Trump administration’s ‘Maximum Pressure’ campaign against Iran, designed to cripple the regime financially and force renegotiation of the nuclear deal, saw a significant expansion of traditional sanctions to include digital asset facilitators. Alongside the blacklisting of high-ranking Iranian officials and state entities, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) began systematically targeting cryptocurrency exchanges and specific virtual currency addresses linked to sanctioned Iranian activity.
This aggressive enforcement strategy stemmed from the recognition that Iran was increasingly utilizing virtual currency to bypass conventional banking sanctions, particularly the inability to access the global SWIFT system. These crypto exchanges, often based internationally but facilitating transactions for designated Iranian organizations—including elements of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and entities involved in destabilizing regional activities—were identified as crucial nodes for illicit finance.
The inclusion of digital asset exchanges marked a pivotal moment, officially integrating cryptocurrency oversight into the U.S. foreign policy toolkit. By sanctioning these entities, the U.S. aimed to deter further use of virtual currency for state-sponsored sanctions evasion and demonstrated that the perceived anonymity of decentralized finance would not shield facilitators from robust regulatory enforcement. The move sent a clear message that Washington was committed to closing every avenue, both traditional and digital, used by the Iranian regime to fund its operations.
Source: Crypto exchanges sanctioned alongside Iranian officials in Trump administration’s Iran crackdown
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