OFAC Sanctions UAE Broker Over $100M in Crypto-Linked Iran Oil Payments

The US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control has sanctioned a UAE-based broker it says moved more than $100 million in crypto since 2023 to support Iranian oil sales tied to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force. The action, announced Monday, folds digital assets into a sanctions framework that already covers Iranian gold, shipping, aviation and technology networks.

What’s confirmed, and by whom: the $100 million figure and the naming of broker Ivan Obukhov appear in both Cointelegraph’s reporting and CoinDesk’s published headline and summary, giving the core claim two independent points of confirmation. CoinDesk’s full article text was not accessible behind a browser verification page at the time of writing, so the granular detail below, including the count of sanctioned entities and the exchange history, traces to Cointelegraph’s account rather than to two matching full-text sources.

The $100 Million Figure and Who It Targets

OFAC alleges that Obukhov, a Ukrainian national operating out of the UAE, processed over $100 million in crypto payments since 2023 to facilitate oil sales on behalf of the IRGC-Quds Force. The agency sanctioned Obukhov directly along with his company, Foscom FZE.

The designation sits inside a wider package. Treasury said OFAC issued sectoral determinations spanning digital assets, technology, gold, aviation and shipping, and separately sanctioned nearly 60 entities, individuals and vessels linked to Iran’s nuclear, missile, cyber and oil networks. The new digital-asset determination gives OFAC authority to sanction any foreign individual or firm operating in, or providing services to, Iran’s crypto sector.

Treasury described crypto as Iran’s “tool of choice for sanctions evasion,” pointing to transactions connected to the IRGC and government insiders. That framing signals OFAC intends to treat crypto infrastructure as a standing target, not a one-off enforcement line.

A Pattern Building Since January

Monday’s action extends a string of Iran-related crypto sanctions stretching back eight months. In January, OFAC sanctioned UK-registered exchanges Zedcex and Zedxion, its first digital-asset designations tied to Iran. On June 3, Treasury sanctioned four Iranian exchanges, including Nobitex, the country’s largest platform.

Days before that June action, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the US had seized nearly $1 billion in cryptocurrency from Iranian exchanges and wallets. On August 7, OFAC sanctioned two more exchanges, Shelbit and Aban Tether, alleging a combined $5 million in Iran-linked digital asset flows.

Set against that backdrop, the $100 million attributed to a single broker is the largest individual figure disclosed in this enforcement line to date. It is roughly twenty times the combined amount cited in the August 7 action against Shelbit and Aban Tether.

Reading the Sanctions Data Carefully

None of this changes the mechanics for most crypto users. But it does widen the compliance surface for exchanges and brokers operating near sanctioned jurisdictions, since the new sectoral determination lets OFAC act against service providers, not only named platforms.

For readers tracking the underlying event rather than the headline count, the aggregate picture is straightforward: four separate enforcement actions since January, four different exchanges or brokers named, and a running total north of $1.1 billion in seized or sanctioned crypto value tied to Iran when the earlier $1 billion figure is included. Treasury has not published a consolidated tally beyond Bessent’s earlier statement.

OFAC’s designation list, along with the specifics of Foscom FZE’s operations, remains the primary document to watch for exchanges conducting sanctions screening this week.

Sources

• coindesk.com
• cointelegraph.com