OFAC has issued a sectoral determination covering digital assets, giving the U.S. the authority to sanction any person worldwide who operates in that part of Iran's economy.

The move is one of five determinations issued at the same time and builds on earlier measures covering Iran's financial and petroleum sectors, extending pressure to a part of the economy that Treasury says is increasingly used to move value across borders and around restrictions.

Among nearly 60 designations announced alongside the determinations, one shadow fleet broker is accused of processing more than $100 million in cryptocurrency payments for the IRGC's Qods Force.

The U.S. Treasury has given itself the power to sanction anyone in the world operating in Iran's digital asset sector as part of a campaign announced Monday that Secretary Scott Bessent described as Economic D-Day.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control issued five sectoral determinations under Executive Order 13902, covering digital assets, technology, gold, aviation and shipping. The digital assets determination means OFAC can now designate any foreign person operating in or providing services to that sector, regardless of where they are based. Treasury previously held similar reach over Iran's financial and petroleum industries.

"Today, at President Trump’s direction, the U.S. Department of the Treasury has begun Operation Economic Outcast: an unprecedented, whole-of-government, economic campaign against the Islamic Republic of Iran and its enablers." — Treasury Department (@USTreasury) August 24, 2026

"Today, at President Trump’s direction, the U.S. Department of the Treasury has begun Operation Economic Outcast: an unprecedented, whole-of-government, economic campaign against the Islamic Republic of Iran and its enablers." — Treasury Department (@USTreasury) August 24, 2026

Treasury said the regime "increasingly turns to cryptocurrency as a tool of choice for sanctions evasion," pointing to transactions linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and regime insiders. The new determination adds formal sanctioning authority to that view, making digital assets part of the same enforcement architecture Washington has already used against banks and oil sales.

Bessent framed the campaign, formally called Operation Economic Outcast, in wartime terms, saying the goal was "to sever every economic lifeline that sustains this tyrannical regime until Tehran stands alone." Countries will be given individual timelines to end Iran-related activity before secondary sanctions follow.

Crypto in the designations

The roughly 60 entities, individuals and vessels named alongside the determinations include two with direct crypto ties.

Ivan Obukhov, a Ukrainian national based in the United Arab Emirates, has since 2023 processed more than $100 million worth of cryptocurrency payments to facilitate oil sales on behalf of the IRGC's Qods Force, according to Treasury. Obukhov has brokered shadow fleet vessels for years and owns UAE-based Foscom FZE, which was designated alongside him.

Arman Kahzadian, part of a group of cyber actors directed by Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security, has focused on digital asset heists. Treasury said he took control of a wallet holding over $30,000 in Bitcoin in the summer of 2023, a much smaller amount than the oil payments but still enough to trigger a designation under the cyber sanctions authority.

The latest action follows two earlier moves against Iranian crypto activity. OFAC sanctioned the exchange Nobitex over terrorist financing, and this month it designated firms that accepted Bitcoin in exchange for safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz.

Tehran dismissed the campaign before it landed. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called Washington "desperate" and said its measures were "the same movie they keep playing over and over again," adding that previous blockades and military moves had failed. Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said any country that takes part in sanctions against Iran "will be regarded as an enemy," as the rial fell to a record open-market low of 2.02 million to the dollar on Monday.

On Myriad, a prediction market owned by Decrypt's parent company Dastan, traders put the chance of Washington announcing an end to the naval blockade it reimposed on Iranian shipping in July at 6% by August 31, rising to 43% by the end of September and 76% by the end of the year.