UK sanctions Iranian-linked network for planning attacks and laundering billions through crypto exchanges

Britain just froze assets and imposed travel bans on 12 individuals and entities tied to Iran’s Zindashti network, a sprawling operation accused of laundering billions of dollars through exchange houses while simultaneously coordinating Iranian-backed hostile activity in the West.

The sanctions are notable not just for the geopolitical drama, but for what they reveal about how state-linked actors are exploiting crypto infrastructure at industrial scale. Two UK-registered exchanges, Zedxion and Zedcex, sit at the center of the operation, having processed roughly $1 billion since 2021, predominantly in Tether’s USDT on the Tron blockchain.

The exchange houses at the center

Zedxion had a director listed with Companies House who turned out to be fictitious. Companies House has since initiated the dissolution of Zedxion due to those misleading filings.

The two exchanges processed approximately $1 billion connected to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Of that flow, an estimated 56% was illicit. By 2024, illicit flows had surged to 87% of total transactions.

Transfers exceeding $10 million in USDT were reportedly made to Sa’id Ahmad Muhammad al-Jamal, a Houthi financier who had already been designated by the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.

The Zanjani connection

One of the more significant figures caught in the sanctions net is Babak Morteza Zanjani, an Iranian billionaire previously linked to laundering IRGC oil revenues through shell companies and front businesses across multiple continents. His connection to Zedxion’s operations suggests the network wasn’t just a crypto laundering shop, but an extension of a much older, much larger financial architecture designed to keep Iranian oil money flowing despite Western sanctions.

The Zindashti network itself is accused of coordinating Iranian-backed hostile activity, including the planning of attacks on Western soil. British authorities frame the financial and security dimensions as inseparable: the same network that moves the money also moves the operational capability.

The broader crackdown on crypto sanctions evasion

Iran’s sanctions-evasion networks have exploited opaque corporate structures in London for years, adapting traditional oil laundering methods to cryptocurrencies since 2021. The UK is preparing for stricter digital asset authorizations in 2026 amid fears of terror financing.

For the crypto industry, every time a UK-registered exchange turns out to be a laundering front for a sanctioned military organization, it gives regulators more ammunition to impose stricter licensing, more intrusive surveillance requirements, and higher compliance costs across the board.

What this means for investors

The UK’s willingness to dissolve a registered company for fraudulent filings signals that Companies House, historically one of the more permissive corporate registries in the developed world, is getting less tolerant. For crypto businesses using UK incorporation as a badge of legitimacy, the bar just got higher.

The connection between Zedxion, Zanjani, and OFAC-designated Houthi financiers shows that investigators are tracing flows across jurisdictions and across blockchains. The gap between a transaction happening and an authority noticing is shrinking.

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