Overview
- The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control formally added Iran’s digital‑asset sector to Executive Order 13902 on Aug. 24, creating a legal basis to sanction anyone it determines operates in or provides services to that sector.
- The move was announced with nearly 60 designations as part of a campaign called Operation Economic Outcast targeting Iran’s nuclear, missile, cyber and oil‑revenue networks.
- Treasury named UAE‑based broker Ivan Obukhov and his company Foscom FZE and alleged he processed more than $100 million in cryptocurrency for IRGC‑linked oil sales since 2023.
- The $100 million figure comes from Treasury’s public materials but the agency did not publish wallet addresses, transaction hashes, token breakdowns or named counterparties, so the amount remains an agency allegation rather than an independently verified on‑chain total.
- The sectoral determination is an authority to designate specific parties rather than an automatic blacklist, but it raises compliance and secondary‑sanctions risk for foreign exchanges, OTC desks, wallet providers and banks that could lose U.S. correspondent or payable‑through access if they knowingly facilitate designated activity.