U.S. Treasury Sanctions Iran's Digital Asset Sector Over Alleged Oil Payments

The U.S. Treasury has widened its sanctions on Iran to include the country's digital asset sector, citing alleged use of cryptocurrency payments to support Iranian oil sales.

The move, implemented through new determinations by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), expands the government's ability to sanction not only crypto companies directly tied to Iran but also foreign actors that participate in or provide services to that ecosystem.

The Treasury alleged that a UAE-based Ukrainian broker, Ivan Obukhov, processed over $100 million in cryptocurrency payments since 2023 to facilitate oil sales on behalf of the IRGC's Quds Force. OFAC sanctioned Obukhov and his UAE-based company, Foscom FZE.

The new determination is designed to sanction foreign individuals and companies that operate in Iran's digital asset sector or provide services that support it. The Treasury said this action significantly expands OFAC's ability to apply sanctions to a wider range of participants, shifting enforcement from narrow platform-specific takedowns toward a broader framework.

The move follows a sequence of earlier U.S. actions targeting specific Iran-related crypto businesses and wallets. The Treasury emphasized that the sector-wide determination is intended to provide a basis for sanctions based on participation in Iran's wider digital asset sector, rather than focusing only on named venues.