The US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced on Friday, July 24 that, following sanctions against Iranian financier Babak Zanjani, sanctions have been further imposed on 9 entities and 4 individuals related to him to combat their efforts to circumvent U.S. sanctions.
The Treasury Department stated that Zanjani used a variety of investments such as financial services, digital asset trading, gold and gem production, and large infrastructure projects to secretly transfer funds for Iran and engage in money laundering.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that the Iranian regime is paying a high price for its reckless actions, with the rial hitting new lows and inflation soaring. The Treasury Department will continue to cut off the economic channels of Iran’s corrupt elite and their facilitators.
Zanjani was previously sentenced to death in Iran in 2016 for embezzlement, but after a commutation in 2024, he reappeared in 2025 as a supporter of government economic projects. In addition to establishing a digital asset network for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), he also led the operations of the “Dot One” corporate group within Iran, including securing an $800 million railway contract in April last year (2025).
OFAC had initially sanctioned Zanjani and his two major digital asset exchanges, Zedcex and Zedxion, in January this year. The entities and individuals sanctioned this time include:
– Dot One Value Creation Group, the parent company of Dot One Gold Company and Dot One Rail Co;
– Dot One Barter Co;
– Dot One Airlines Co;
– Dot One Trip.
– Zedpay, a financial technology company in Istanbul (providing cross-border payment capabilities to Zedxion), and its chairman Mehdi Rezazadeh;
– Zedx DMCC in Dubai (related to Zedcex) and its manager Sukhrob Oimakhmadov;
– BZ Diamond FZCO, a diamond trading company in Dubai, and its manager Bahareh Morteza Zanjani, Zanjani’s sister;
– Solmaz Bani, Zanjani’s partner, who had registered websites for his companies.