The US Treasury imposes new sanctions related to Iran.
The US Treasury imposes new sanctions related to Iran.
2026-11-07
Shafaq News – Translation
The U.S. Treasury Department announced on Friday that it had imposed sanctions on eight Canadian-based financial services and money transfer companies for allegedly facilitating the flow of funds to and from Iran, and assisting the Iranian regime and sanctioned entities in illicit activities to move assets across borders.
The ministry said in a statement translated by Shafaq News Agency that the targeted companies facilitate the conversion of Iranian rials and other currencies into digital assets, enabling international transactions related to Iran. It noted that a number of them conducted transactions with Iranian digital currency trading platforms subject to sanctions, as well as digital addresses linked to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
The statement quoted US Treasury Secretary Scott Bisent as saying that “Canada cannot be a safe haven for illicit financial entities that provide sanctions evasion services to the Iranian regime and its proxies,” stressing that the Treasury will continue to pursue and disrupt Iranian financial channels anywhere in the world.
Bisent added that this step comes within the framework of the “economic pariah” operation launched by the US Treasury last August, with the aim of cutting off the funding arteries that support the Iranian regime and the Revolutionary Guard, including the exploitation of cryptocurrencies to circumvent sanctions.
The new sanctions come as a continuation of previous measures targeting Iranian trading platforms, including Nobitex, Walex, Bitbean and Ramzinx on June 2, 2026, and AbanTatr and Shelbet on August 7, 2026, on the grounds of transferring digital assets to the Revolutionary Guard.
According to the statement, the action was coordinated with the US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and the Canadian Financial Intelligence Unit (FINTRAC), along with the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), as part of efforts to combat the illicit use of digital assets in drug trafficking.
The Treasury revealed that a number of the targeted companies also dealt with Canadian drug trafficker Ryan Wedding, who is on the U.S. sanctions list, and who used money transfer companies in Vancouver and Toronto to launder billions of dollars in drug proceeds by delivering the money in cash, converting it into digital assets, and sending it abroad.
She explained that Wedding was arrested in January 2026, but dealt with a number of sanctioned companies to transfer millions of dollars in digital assets before being placed in US custody.
The Treasury Department confirmed that these companies were targeted under Executive Order 13902, which imposes sanctions on key sectors of the Iranian economy, including the digital asset sector.
shafaq.com
