Shibbir Ahmed, Washington DC — The United States has imposed new sanctions on an Iranian digital asset network accused of helping the Iranian regime evade sanctions and move funds through cryptocurrency. The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced the measures on September 17 as part of Operation Economic Outcast, a broader U.S. campaign targeting Iran’s financial networks and sources of revenue.
The sanctions target BitBank, an Iranian digital asset exchange controlled by Iranian financier Babak Zanjani, along with its developer, Pishtaz Simorgh Electronic Trade Company. Three individuals associated with Zanjani—Hossein Ali Zaker Hossein, Mohammad Mahdi Zaker Hossein, and Seyed Adel Heidari—were also designated.
According to the Treasury Department, the targeted entities and individuals form part of an Iranian digital asset-based sanctions-evasion infrastructure. U.S. officials said BitBank has been used to transfer payments received by the Iranian regime and that the broader network was involved in laundering funds and transferring hundreds of millions of dollars in Bitcoin to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the action demonstrates that cryptocurrency-based financing linked to the Iranian regime remains within the reach of U.S. sanctions authorities.
The latest measures were issued under Executive Order 13902, which authorizes sanctions targeting certain sectors of Iran’s economy, including its digital asset sector. Treasury said the expanded use of the authority is intended to disrupt Iran’s efforts to use digital assets to circumvent U.S. sanctions.
The action is part of Operation Economic Outcast, launched by the Treasury Department on August 24, 2026. The campaign focuses on financial networks, facilitators and channels that U.S. authorities say Iran uses to generate revenue, evade sanctions and finance activities linked to the regime.
Treasury has warned that entities involved in money laundering or sanctions evasion on behalf of Iran could face restrictions on access to the U.S. financial system. The department has also increased the potential exposure to secondary sanctions for foreign entities that continue certain business dealings with Iran.
The latest action follows a series of U.S. sanctions targeting Iranian financial and economic networks, including measures against foreign banks and other entities accused of facilitating Iran’s access to international financial channels.
