The US sanctions Iran's largest encrypted currency exchange, which is helping the authorities evade sanctions.

On Tuesday, United States local time announced sanctions against Iran’s largest encrypted currency exchange, Nobitex, and its founders, accusing them of helping the Iranian government and the blacklisted State agencies to circumvent Western sanctions. This initiative follows a survey published by Reuters on 1 May, which revealed that Nobitex has become a central node of a “parallel financial system” for the processing of hundreds of millions of dollars for the Central Bank of Iran and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). The survey also revealed that Nobitex continued to operate after the Government had implemented the Internet shutdown, processing millions of dollars of transactions.

In a statement, United States Treasury Secretary Scott Besent stated that, at a time when Iran's economy was in a “free fall”, the Iranian regime had chosen to “incorporate” digital asset technologies to serve its corrupt agenda, including by circumventing sanctions and transferring funds out of the country. In its sanctions statement, the Ministry of Finance stated that Nobitex had provided “significant support” to the Iranian Government and had facilitated “a large number” of digital transactions related to the Central Bank of Iran and the Revolutionary Guard Corps. The statement also states that, since the United States forces began combat operations in Iran, Nobitex has played a role in the protection and transfer of assets by transferring regime wealth from Iran under the Internet blockade in order to circumvent tracing.

An earlier Reuters investigation revealed that Nobitex was controlled by two brothers from one of the most powerful families in Iran and was closely associated with the new Supreme Leader. The two men belonged to the highly influential Harraz family in Iran, and business registration records showed that, at the start of the exchange, the brothers had used a family name that was rarely used by family members to present company documents. The United States Department of the Treasury announced on Tuesday that the two brothers — Sayed Mohamed Ali Aghamir Mohammed Ali and Sayid Mohammad Mohammed Ali — had been added to the sanctions list, along with Amir Hussein Raad, Chief Executive Officer of Nobitex.

Nobitex has yet to provide an updated response to the sanctions, which were released after normal working hours in Iran. However, in April this year, in response to a Reuters mail interview, the company stated that there was “no direct link” between the company and the Government and denied assisting the State in related activities. Nobitex stated at that time that any illicit funds flowing through its platform were done without the knowledge and approval of management. The company also indicated that the brothers had never used other identities or changed identity information.