US Sanctions Iran-Controlled Crypto Exchange and Associates

The US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has designated BitBank, an Iranian digital asset exchange controlled by sanctioned financier Babak Zanjani, and its software developer Pishtaz Simorgh Electronic Trade Company. Three associates of Zanjani were also sanctioned: Hossein Ali Zaker Hossein, Mohammad Mahdi Zaker Hossein, and Seyed Adel Heidari.

The designation was made under Executive Order 13902 as part of Operation Economic Outcast, an economic campaign against the Iranian regime and its enablers. OFAC alleged that Zanjani used BitBank to transfer hundreds of millions of dollars in Bitcoin to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in June and July 2026.

Kharon, a monitoring service, had flagged four of the five newly designated parties for risk before the designation. Three of them - BitBank, Pishtaz Simorgh, and Seyed Adel Heidari - were flagged more than a year prior to September 17, 2026.