US sanctions Canadian money services firms over Iran ties

The US Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has targeted eight Canadian currency exchange firms for allegedly facilitating transactions with sanctioned Iranian entities.

IMAGE: Flags of the US and Iran. Getty Images

“These companies facilitate the exchange of Iranian rials and other currencies for digital assets to enable international transactions involving Iran," OFAC said.

“Many of these businesses have facilitated transactions with sanctioned Iranian digital asset exchanges, as well as with digital asset addresses associated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC),” it added.

The latest move is part of Washington’s ‘Operation Economic Outcast’, which was launched in August last year, to impose economic restrictions on Tehran and its allies, including in the cryptocurrency sector.

OFAC noted that many of the businesses had changed their names to evade detection.

OFAC identified several of the firms as operating in Ontario and British Columbia, including Diverse Trade, doing business as Million Exchange; 1380079 BC, doing business as Amin Exchange; and Top PC Technician, an affiliate of 1380079 BC.

By Shilpa Sharma

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