U.S. Sanctions Target Iranian Financier Babak Morteza Zanjani and His Global Network

U.S. Targets Iranian Financier Babak Morteza Zanjani in Major Sanctions Move

Washington, D.C. — In a significant escalation of economic pressure, U.S. authorities have sanctioned four individuals and nine entities linked to Iranian financier Babak Morteza Zanjani. This action aims to dismantle a global network allegedly designed to evade sanctions and funnel funds to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has specifically targeted Zanjani’s sister, Bahareh Morteza Zanjani, who resides in the United Arab Emirates. Treasury officials accuse her of managing BZ Diamond FZCO, a Dubai-based dealer in lab-grown and natural diamonds that has reportedly provided material support to Zanjani’s U.K.-registered cryptocurrency platform, Zedxion Exchange Ltd.

An investigation by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) previously revealed that Zedxion operated as a corporate front for Zanjani, who was allegedly hiding behind a fictitious CEO. “The Iranian regime continues to pay a steep economic price for its reckless behavior, with the rial plunging to another record low and inflation soaring,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated.

These sanctions build on Washington’s earlier designations from January 30, which included Zanjani and his flagship crypto exchanges, Zedcex Exchange Ltd. and Zedxion. Zanjani, who was sentenced to death in Iran in 2016 for embezzling state oil funds, had his sentence commuted in 2024 and re-emerged as an economic supporter of the Iranian regime.

OCCRP’s reporting indicated that Zanjani’s crypto platforms claimed to process billions of dollars in digital assets daily while misleading U.K. authorities about their operational status. Notably, TRM Labs, a blockchain analysis firm, reported that these exchanges transferred over $10 million to Sa’id Ahmad Muhammad al-Jamal, a senior financial official for Yemen’s Houthi militia.

The investigation also uncovered that Zanjani’s platforms employed a fictitious CEO named “Elizabeth Newman,” using stock footage of a model in promotional materials. U.K. corporate filings revealed that Zanjani himself had previously been listed as Zedxion’s controller until August 2022. Following these revelations, Britain’s Companies House initiated steps to dissolve Zedxion Exchange Ltd. due to “misleading, false, or deceptive” information.

In its latest sanctions, OFAC also blacklisted Solmaz Bani, a Dutch national based in Dubai, described as Zanjani’s significant other. OCCRP’s investigation traced her operational ties through domain records and social media, including images of a distinctive cat that appeared on both her personal account and Zedxion’s official Telegram channel. OFAC stated that Bani “registered websites for Zanjani’s companies” and materially assisted his operations.

Zanjani responded to the sanctions on his social media account, asserting that “[t]he companies and individuals sanctioned by the United States outside of Iran have no commercial relationship with me, nor have they ever had one.”

Inside Iran, the Treasury targeted Zanjani’s conglomerate, “Dot One,” which spans infrastructure, aviation, and digital assets. Sanctions were imposed on the primary holding company, Dot One Value Creation Group, and several subsidiaries, including DotOne Gold Company, which mints gold bars and acts as custodian for Tala Token, a digital asset linked to Zedcex.

The U.S. government also blacklisted foreign entities providing financial and technical support to Zanjani’s exchanges. In Turkey, fintech provider Zedpay Finansal Sistem Ve Hizmetleri Anonim Sirketi and its chairperson, Mehdi Rezazadeh, were designated for their integration with Zedxion. In the UAE, Dubai-based Zedx DMCC and its manager, Sukhrob Oimakhmadov, were sanctioned for managing exchange wallets for Zedcex.

These sanctions freeze all U.S.-based property and financial interests of the designated individuals and entities, prohibit American citizens and institutions from engaging in transactions with them, and expose foreign entities to potential civil or criminal penalties for assisting the network.

As the U.S. intensifies its efforts to curb Iran’s financial maneuvers, the implications of these sanctions could reverberate across the global financial landscape, further isolating the Iranian regime and its affiliates.