The U.S. Treasury Department imposed financial sanctions on eight Canadian money services companies that it alleges did business with sanctioned “Iranian companies.”
These companies facilitated the exchange of Iranian riyals and other currencies for digital assets, enabling international transactions, a U.S. currency Statement from the Ministry of Finance said on Friday.
The sanctions, designed to isolate the companies from the dollar-based financial system, are the latest in a series of actions by the Treasury Department against companies outside the United States.
According to the Treasury Department, these companies facilitated transactions with sanctioned Iranian digital asset exchanges as well as with digital asset addresses linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Bessent says Canada cannot be a safe haven
Related: US plans to seize $1 billion worth of Iran-linked cryptocurrencies this week: Scott Bessent
“Canada cannot be a safe haven for illicit financial intermediaries who provide sanctions-evading services to the Iranian regime and its proxies,” said Finance Minister Scott Bessent. “The Treasury Department will pursue and disrupt the Iranian regime’s financial channels anywhere in the world.”
Cointelegraph reported in August that the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). aimed at that Crypto exchanges facilitate the transfer of funds to the Iranian IRGC. Bessent said at the time that the US planned to “increase economic pressure” on Iran, focusing on financial networks that fund the country’s regime “in dollars, riyals or crypto.”
Friday’s designations are a continuation of the Treasury Department’s campaign to “disrupt the regime’s exploitation of digital assets to finance terrorism, human rights abuses, and attacks on U.S. personnel and allies,” the statement said.
It added that the actions were coordinated with FINTRAC, Canada’s Financial Intelligence Unit.
Some of the companies affected by this measure have changed their names and addresses to avoid detection, the statement said.
$20 million reward for Iranian nuclear information
In a separate action on Friday, the U.S Rewards for justice The program offered up to $20 million and possible relocation for information about Iran’s nuclear program, including its facilities, equipment and personnel.
Iran’s lack of compliance with International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards has resulted in the organization losing its “continuity of knowledge” about Iran’s production of enriched uranium and components such as centrifuges, the statement said.
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