US targets UAE-based crypto exchange over alleged Iran sanctions evasion scheme
“Treasury will hunt down and dismantle the illicit financial networks that keep the regime afloat,” Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent said in a statement.
The US Treasury has sanctioned a UAE-based cryptocurrency exchange, alleging it processed millions of dollars of crypto for Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and other groups linked to the Iranian state. According to Middle East Eye, the exchange, Shelbit, was identified as the hub of a $4bn Iranian sanctions evasion scheme.
The US Treasury also sanctioned the expatriate Iranian who founded Shelbit, Siavash Kayvanpour, for providing material support to the IRGC. Additionally, the Treasury sanctioned a network of other companies. The US had previously sanctioned Nobitex, Iran's biggest cryptocurrency exchange, on 2 June for enabling the Iranian government to circumvent western sanctions.
US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent stated that "Treasury will hunt down and dismantle the illicit financial networks that keep the regime afloat."
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