Jessie A Ellis
Sep 16, 2025 21:16
The U.S. Treasury’s OFAC has sanctioned Iranian monetary facilitators for laundering $100 million in oil proceeds by way of cryptocurrencies, impacting Iran’s navy funding.
The U.S. Division of the Treasury’s Workplace of Overseas Belongings Management (OFAC) has imposed sanctions on Iranian monetary facilitators and their community of entrance corporations, in response to a report by Chainalysis. These entities have been accused of coordinating cryptocurrency transactions to profit the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Qods Power (IRGC-QF) and Iran’s Ministry of Protection.
Sanctioned Entities and Their Operations
OFAC’s designation targets Iranian nationals Alireza Derakhshan and Arash Estaki Alivand, who orchestrated the acquisition of over $100 million in cryptocurrency linked to Iranian oil gross sales between 2023 and 2025. The overall influx by way of the addresses concerned on this community exceeds $600 million, underscoring the size of operations performed by way of a posh internet of entrance corporations throughout numerous jurisdictions.
This transfer highlights Iran’s ongoing use of cryptocurrency to evade worldwide sanctions by way of refined shadow banking networks. The sanctioned community is comparable in scale to different OFAC designations, equivalent to Sa’id al-Jamal, a Houthi financier concerned in laundering funds for the IRGC-QF.
Connections and Earlier Sanctions
Arash Estaki Alivand maintained connections with beforehand designated entities, together with facilitating transactions for the Al-Qatirji Firm and dealing with Hezbollah-associated cash changer Tawfiq Muhammad Sa’id al-Legislation. These operations supplied Hezbollah with entry to digital wallets for receiving proceeds from IRGC-QF commodity gross sales.
The Chainalysis Reactor graph illustrates the intricate community of monetary facilitators and intermediaries employed by the IRGC-QF, involving interactions with mainstream Iranian cryptocurrency exchanges and entities like Israel’s Nationwide Bureau of Counter Terror Financing.
Challenges in Detecting Sanctions Evasion
The newest actions by OFAC replicate the rising sophistication of Iran’s sanctions evasion ways, significantly by way of using cryptocurrency and worldwide entrance corporations. This designation is a part of a broader technique to disrupt Iran’s shadow banking infrastructure amid ongoing worldwide strain.
The complicated nature of the community, which spans a number of jurisdictions and combines conventional entrance corporations with cryptocurrency, presents important challenges for authorities in detecting and disrupting these fashionable evasion schemes. Nonetheless, the transparency of blockchain expertise presents distinctive alternatives to hint and dismantle such networks.
The designated cryptocurrency addresses can be found on OFAC’s web site. This motion underscores the significance of continued vigilance and adaptation within the face of evolving monetary crimes.
For additional particulars, please discuss with the unique report by [Chainalysis](https://www.chainalysis.com/weblog/ofac-sanctions-iranian-shadow-crypto-banking-network-september-2025/).
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