US sanctions Iranian financiers, others over $100M in cryptocurrency transfers from Iran oil sales

A pair of Iranian financiers and more than a dozen people and firms across Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates were sanctioned Tuesday for allegedly coordinating $100 million worth of cryptocurrency transfers from the sale of Iranian oil for the benefit of Iran’s government and military.

Treasury alleges that Iranian nationals Alireza Derakhshan and Arash Estaki Alivand facilitated the purchase of over $100 million worth of cryptocurrency for oil sales for the Iranian government. The pair then used a network of front companies across countries to transfer the cryptocurrency funds, Treasury says.

So-called shadow banking networks like these evade sanctions by laundering money through overseas front companies and cryptocurrency.

Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence John K. Hurley said in a statement that the US “will continue to disrupt these key financial streams that fund Iran’s weapons programs and malign activities in the Middle East and beyond.”

To authorize the sanctions, the U.S. used an executive order that President Donald Trump issued in February called the National Security Presidential Memorandum 2, which calls for the U.S. to “drive Iran’s export of oil to zero.” It also states that Iran “can never be allowed to acquire or develop nuclear weapons.”