ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – The US Department of the Treasury on Friday announced a new set of measures it has taken against Iran, targeting digital asset exchanges and currency networks that Tehran “relies on” to move and “launder” large sums of money.

The department said in an article that its Office of Foreign Assets Control “took action against multiple networks spanning several countries for enabling Iran’s rahbar banking system to move hundreds of millions of dollars,” marking the office’s eighth action targeting Iran’s “shadow banking” structure in 2026.

It said that Iran is “desperate” for foreign currency and is “losing substantial sums to corruption and mismanagement within the shadow banking system.”

The sanctions were imposed on two Dubai-based exchange fronts: Titan Exchange and Alps International. The Treasury explained that Iran’s Shahr Bank relied on the two UAE-based fronts, which “for years enabled transactions at the request of Shahr Bank.”

According to the Treasury, the “Iranian-run, Dubai-based” network furthered its reach by working with several multinational shell companies across several countries.

“As a result of today’s action, all property and interests in property of the designated or blocked persons described above that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons are blocked and must be reported to OFAC. In addition, any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, individually or in the aggregate, 50 percent or more by one or more blocked persons are also blocked,” the article stated.

The Treasury often slaps sanctions on entities and actors it accuses of enabling the flow of foreign currencies into Iran.

In a separate statement also on Friday, the Treasury Department said it “is moving against digital asset exchanges that the Iranian regime relies on to launder billions of dollars, maintain covert access to international financial systems, and support the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), among other terrorist groups.”

“This action targets two major digital asset exchanges used by Tehran, along with the ringleader of a network of front companies operating across multiple jurisdictions, facilitating illicit cryptocurrency activity and sanctions evasion,” it added.

The State Department said in a statement earlier on Friday, attributed to spokesperson Tommy Pigott, that it had taken steps “to dismantle a web of currency exchange houses and shell companies that helped Iran secretly move hundreds of millions of dollars through the international financial system.”

The US expanded its sanctions targeting Iranian petroleum shipping magnate Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani, the son of Ali Shamkhani, who was a top advisor to Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and was killed in US-Israeli airstrikes, the Treasury said in mid-July, warning that he remains a key actor in Iran’s oil trade.

Since the US-Israel war started in late February, Iran has shut the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway responsible for the transport of roughly 20 percent of the world’s oil, sharply driving up oil prices.

Washington on Tuesday claimed progress toward a possible reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, citing progress in Oman-Iran waterway management talks, while Iran insisted that only it and Muscat have authority over passage arrangements and rejected US interference.