In brief
OFAC designated Shelbit Exchange and Aban Tether, accusing both of moving funds for the Iranian armed forces and previously sanctioned Iranian exchanges.
Treasury says Iran-linked wallets sent over $1 million to Shelbit, which sent more than $2 million back.
The State Department is offering up to $15 million for tips disrupting the Iranian military's financial machinery.
The U.S. Treasury just sanctioned two crypto exchanges it says laundered millions for Iran's Revolutionary Guard—naming one operator who ran the scheme from Georgia and the UAE, and a second platform based in Iran.OFAC announced the action on August 7 under its "Economic Fury" campaign. "The Iranian regime's reliance on digital assets and shadow banking networks is further evidence that Economic Fury is working," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement. A separate, simultaneous action went after Iran's traditional shadow-banking network.The centerpiece is Siavash Kayvanpour. He's Iran-born, holds Dominica and Afghanistan citizenship, and ran a multi-country network from the UAE and Georgia. Through his Georgia firm SHPS Shelbit, he operated Shelbit Exchange.Treasury says Iranian armed forces-linked wallets sent over $1 million in crypto to Shelbit, and Shelbit sent more than $2 million back to Iranian wallets—plus another $2 million to Nobitex, an Iranian exchange that was already sanctioned for terrorist financing.
