By News18,Saurabh Verma

Copyright news18

Two Iranian nationals and more than a dozen people and firms across Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates were slapped with US sanctions for allegedly coordinating $100 million worth of cryptocurrency transfers from the sale of Iranian oil for the “benefit” of Iran’s government and military.
The US Treasury Department alleged 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, the Treasury said.
In a statement, Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence John K Hurley said 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.”
The US used an executive order that President Donald Trump issued in February to authorise the sanctions. The National Security Presidential Memorandum 2 calls for the US to “drive Iran’s export of oil to zero” and also states that Iran “can never be allowed to acquire or develop nuclear weapons.”
With these sanctions, these people and firms won’t be able to access any property or financial assets held in the United States and prevent US companies and citizens from doing business with them.
The crypto tracking firm Chainalysis reports that sanctioned jurisdictions and entities, like Iran, received $15.8 billion in cryptocurrency in 2024, accounting for about 39% of all illicit crypto transactions.
The latest sanctions also come after France, Britain, and Germany triggered a “snapback mechanism” that automatically reimposes all United Nations sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program, saying Iran has willfully departed from their 2015 nuclear deal that lifted the measures.
The US and Iran tried to reach a new nuclear deal earlier this year, but those talks have not resumed since the 12-day Israeli bombardment of Iran’s nuclear and military sites and the U.S. bombardment on June 22.
(with AP inputs)