The U.S. Treasury has widened its Iran sanctions campaign to cover crypto, gold, aviation, shipping and technology under a program called Operation Economic Outcast. Iran and China say they will resist the measures, while Pakistan's army chief is separately carrying a proposal to Tehran that could ease the standoff.
The U.S. Treasury Department has widened its sanctions campaign against Iran, adding crypto, gold, aviation, shipping and technology to the sectors it can target under a program called Operation Economic Outcast. According to BBC News, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent described the measures as "the single greatest financial offensive ever" against Iran. The department has also sanctioned almost 60 entities, individuals and vessels across those five sectors.
OFAC widens its reach into crypto
The Office of Foreign Assets Control can now sanction any exchange, broker or service provider it determines operates in Iran's cryptocurrency sector, regardless of location. Separately, Treasury alleges that Ivan Obukhov, a UAE-based vessel broker, processed more than $100 million in crypto payments since 2023 to help the Revolutionary Guard's Quds Force sell oil. Iran's crypto ecosystem reached $7.78 billion in 2025, according to Chainalysis data, with IRGC-linked wallets receiving more than $3 billion of that total.
Tehran and Beijing push back
Iran's Economy Minister Ali Madanizadeh said Tehran was ready for the sanctions and predicted they would fail like earlier rounds. China's foreign ministry, meanwhile, said it firmly opposed what it called illegal, unilateral sanctions and would safeguard its own interests. Capital Economics economist David Oxley noted that roughly 90% of Iran's oil goes to China, a country that has not recognized U.S. sanctions on Tehran before. Brent crude traded at $92 a barrel on Monday, with global oil prices elevated since Iran began blocking flow through the Strait of Hormuz at the conflict's start.
Pakistan floats an exit ramp
Pakistan's army chief, Asim Munir, is reportedly carrying a proposal to Iranian leaders that would halt the economic blockade and gradually lift sanctions under the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding, according to Al Arabiya. The offer follows a call in which Trump reportedly encouraged Munir to push Iran back toward talks, and comes after Munir's Tehran visit, which Pakistani officials described to Iran's ISNA news agency as fruitful. Markets reacted to the news: oil prices dropped and equities rose on hopes of de-escalation, though it is not the first time such headlines have surfaced.
Bessent said Iran now faces a choice between full isolation or a path back to the global economy, and that Trump would be phoning world leaders directly to press them to cut ties with Tehran.
Sources: BBC News, CoinDesk, Investinglive
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