Iran’s central bank chief rejects US claims on cryptocurrency links

Iran’s top central banker is pushing back hard against Washington’s expanding crypto sanctions campaign, flatly denying that recently targeted exchanges and wallets have any ties to the Iranian state. The US Treasury has spent the better part of 2026 methodically sanctioning Iranian crypto infrastructure and freezing nine figures worth of digital assets in the process.

Central Bank of Iran Governor Abdolnasser Hemmati, who took the role in late December 2025, maintains that the exchanges Washington has gone after are not connected to Iran and that Tehran retains full control over its funds.

The sanctions timeline

In June 2026, the US Treasury sanctioned Nobitex, Iran’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, accusing it of processing transactions on behalf of the Central Bank of Iran and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The IRGC is designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the US, meaning any financial facilitation carries significant legal weight.

Then came July. The Treasury sanctioned four wallets it said were linked to the CBI, prompting Tether to freeze approximately $131 million in digital assets connected to those addresses.

On August 7, the Treasury sanctioned two additional Iranian crypto exchanges, continuing what it has branded the “Economic Fury” initiative.

What Hemmati is actually arguing

Hemmati’s position boils down to two claims. First, that the exchanges sanctioned by the US have no operational connection to the Iranian government. Second, that Iran controls its own funds regardless of what Washington does.

The first claim is a direct contradiction of the Treasury’s findings. In Nobitex’s case, the accusation was specific: that the exchange processed transactions benefiting sanctioned state entities.

The second claim, that Iran controls its funds, is more interesting. If $131 million was frozen by Tether at the Treasury’s request, that’s $131 million Iran demonstrably does not control anymore.

The broader crypto sanctions landscape

Tether’s willingness to freeze $131 million in assets on a government request reinforces a pattern that has been building for years: stablecoin issuers function as de facto compliance arms of the US financial system. Any exchange or wallet that touches USDT is, in practice, subject to US enforcement jurisdiction.

The Nobitex designation is particularly notable because it targeted what was reportedly the largest crypto exchange in Iran. Going after a country’s dominant exchange rather than small, peripheral platforms suggests the Treasury is aiming for maximum disruption rather than symbolic gestures.

The Treasury has shown no signs of slowing down. Three rounds of sanctions in three months, targeting exchanges, wallets, and the central bank itself, suggests this is a sustained campaign with more designations likely to follow.

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