OFAC Sanctions Iran’s Shelbit, Aban Tether After $5M IRGC Crypto Flows Traced

The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned two crypto exchanges on Friday, saying wallets linked to them moved more than $5 million combined to and from networks controlled by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The targets, Shelbit Exchange and Iran-based Aban Tether, mark the latest additions to Washington’s expanding “Economic Fury” campaign against Tehran’s digital-asset financing channels.

Tracing the wallet flows

According to OFAC, IRGC-controlled wallets sent more than $1 million in crypto to addresses tied to Shelbit, while Shelbit-linked wallets in turn sent roughly $2 million back to IRGC-controlled addresses. Separately, wallets belonging to Iranian national Siavash Kayvanpour sent more than $2 million to Nobitex, Iran’s largest crypto exchange, which the U.S. sanctioned in June.

OFAC also sanctioned Kayvanpour directly along with several companies tied to him in Georgia, Poland and the United Arab Emirates, one of which is said to operate Shelbit. Aban Tether, the agency added, has processed millions of dollars in transactions involving other already-sanctioned Iranian platforms, including Nobitex, Wallex, Bitpin and Ramzinex.

An expanding pressure campaign

Friday’s action builds on a string of Treasury moves against Iran-linked crypto infrastructure throughout 2026. OFAC designated exchanges Zedcex and Zedxio as sanctioned entities in January, froze $131 million in wallets tied to Iran in June, and added Nobitex to its sanctions list the same month. The department also sanctioned a separate network of foreign exchange houses, shell companies and individuals on Friday accused of moving hundreds of millions of dollars through Iran’s shadow banking system, including proceeds from overseas oil sales.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the department “will continue to increase the economic pressure,” adding: “Whether in dollars, rials, or crypto, Treasury will hunt down and dismantle the illicit financial networks that keep the regime afloat.”

Why it matters for exchanges and traders

The dollar figures involved in Friday’s designations are modest compared with the $131 million frozen in June or the roughly $3.8 billion in Iran-linked transfers previously flagged through CoinEx by blockchain analytics firm TRM, but the pattern is consistent: OFAC is systematically mapping wallet-to-wallet flows between smaller regional exchanges and sanctioned Iranian platforms rather than waiting for large-scale movements.

For exchanges, custodians and stablecoin issuers, the sanctions underscore that even modest transaction volumes tied to designated wallets can trigger enforcement. CoinDesk noted it had reached out to Tether to clarify whether Aban Tether has any relationship to the stablecoin issuer of a similar name; no confirmation of a link has been reported. As the U.S.-Iran conflict continues, compliance teams monitoring counterparty exposure to Iranian-linked addresses are likely to face closer scrutiny going forward.

Sources

• theblock.co
• cointelegraph.com
• coindesk.com