US sanctions Canadian money-exchange firms over Iran ties

The US Treasury imposed financial sanctions on eight Canadian money-service companies it claims have done business with sanctioned ‌Iranian entities.

These companies facilitated the exchange of Iranian rials and other currencies for digital assets, enabling international transactions, a US Treasury Department statement said on Friday.

The sanctions, which serve to isolate the companies from the dollar-based financial system, are the latest in a series of Treasury moves against firms outside the US.

These businesses have facilitated transactions with sanctioned Iranian digital asset exchanges, as well as with digital asset addresses associated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), according to the Treasury.

Bessent says Canada cannot be a safe haven

“Canada cannot be a safe haven for illicit financial facilitators that provide sanctions evasion services to the Iranian regime and its proxies,” said Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent. “Treasury 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, or OFAC, was targeting crypto exchanges facilitating the transfer of funds to Iran’s IRGC. Bessent said at the time that the US planned to “increase the economic pressure” on Iran, focusing on financial networks funding the country’s regime “in dollars, rials, or crypto.”

Friday’s designations are a continuation of Treasury’s campaign to “disrupt the regime’s exploitation of digital assets to fund terrorism, human rights abuses, and attacks on US personnel and allies,” the statement said.

It added that the actions were coordinated with FINTRAC, Canada’s financial intelligence unit.  

Some of the entities subject to this action have changed their names and addresses to evade detection, the statement noted.

Reward of $20 million for Iran nuclear information

In a separate action on Friday, the US Rewards for Justice program offered as much as $20 million and possible relocation for information about Iran’s nuclear program, including its facilities, equipment and personnel.

Iran’s lack of compliance with the International Atomic Energy Agency on safeguards has led to the agency’s loss of “continuity of knowledge” regarding Iran’s production of enriched uranium and components like centrifuges, the statement said.