U.S. Unleashes “Economic Fury” on Iran’s Crypto Ecosystem, Sanctioning Top Exchange Nobitex

The U.S. Treasury Department has escalated its financial pressure on Iran, announcing on Tuesday sanctions against Nobitex, the country’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, and three other local trading platforms. This decisive action is a direct continuation of the “Economic Fury” campaign, a strategy initiated under the Trump administration aimed at severing funding streams for the Iranian military and dismantling the regime’s clandestine financial networks.

Nobitex has long stood as a pivotal hub within Iran’s burgeoning cryptocurrency landscape. Despite facing intense scrutiny from blockchain analytics firms and international lawmakers, the platform has historically demonstrated a remarkable ability to skillfully circumvent the radar of international sanctions.

According to the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), Nobitex alone processed over 50% of the digital asset funds flowing into Iran in 2025. OFAC further asserts that the exchange has played a critical role in assisting Iran’s efforts to evade global sanctions, while also being implicated in terrorist financing and facilitating financial transactions linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

The sanctions also extend to key figures within Nobitex’s leadership: Chairman and Co-founder Amir Hossein Rad, current CEO Seyed Ali Khoee, and co-founders Ali Kharrazi and Mohammad Kharrazi.

A Reuters investigation last month shed light on the Kharrazi brothers’ deep connections to Iran’s highest echelons of power, reporting that hundreds of millions of dollars linked to sanctioned entities were funneled through exchanges under their control.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent underscored the gravity of these actions in an official statement, remarking, “As the national economy plunges into freefall, the Iranian regime chooses to exploit digital assets for corrupt purposes, including evading international sanctions and transferring wealth abroad.”

Beyond Nobitex, the Treasury’s sanctions list now includes three other Iranian exchanges: Wallex, Bitpin, and Ramzinex. These platforms face similar accusations of allegedly providing transaction facilitation services for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and other designated sanctioned entities.

This latest round of sanctions follows closely on the heels of Secretary Bessent’s announcement less than a week prior, revealing that the U.S. had successfully seized approximately $1 billion in Iranian cryptocurrency assets. This figure represents a significant increase from the $500 million initially disclosed by U.S. authorities in late April.