US sanctions Iranian crypto network, Cuban entities; removes Belarus listings

WASHINGTON, September 17, 2026 — The US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on an Iranian cryptocurrency network and Cuban defense and nickel-sector targets, while removing two Belarus-related entities from its sanctions list.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control designated Iranian digital asset exchange BitBank, its software developer Pishtaz Simorgh Electronic Trade Company and three associates of sanctioned Iranian financier Babak Zanjani. Treasury said the network formed part of Iran’s digital asset-based sanctions evasion infrastructure.

Treasury said Zanjani used BitBank between June and July to facilitate transfers of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Bitcoin to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. BitBank and Pishtaz Simorgh were designated under Executive Order 13902 for operating in Iran’s digital asset sector.

OFAC also designated Hossein Ali Zaker Hossein, Mohammad Mahdi Zaker Hossein and Seyed Adel Heidari over their links to Zanjani, Pishtaz Simorgh and the previously sanctioned Dot One Value Creation Group. The action was taken under Treasury’s Operation Economic Outcast campaign targeting Iranian sanctions evasion and financial channels.

Separately, OFAC added three Cuban nationals and eight Cuban state-owned entities to the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List under Executive Order 14404. The entities include defense research organizations and companies or research bodies linked to Cuba’s nickel sector.

OFAC also removed sanctions listings associated with Belarusian paint producer Lakokraska and the state-owned timber, woodworking and pulp-and-paper concern Bellesbumprom.

Property and interests in property of the newly designated Iranian targets that are in the United States or controlled by US persons are blocked, while entities owned 50% or more by blocked persons are also subject to blocking restrictions.