By Andrea Shalal
WASHINGTON, July 24 (Reuters) – The United States on Friday announced further sanctions against nine firms and four people associated with sanctioned Iranian financier Babak Zanjani for their efforts to evade U.S. sanctions as U.S. forces escalated their strikes across the Gulf country.
The U.S. Treasury Department said the new designations target Zanjani’s Iran-based operations under his “Dot One” conglomerate and several firms based in Turkey and the United Arab Emirates that have supported his already designated digital asset exchanges, as well as top executives at those firms.
Treasury said Zanjani had leveraged a diverse portfolio that includes financial services, digital asset trading and gold and precious gem production, along with major infrastructure projects, to launder revenue and move funds covertly for Iran.
“The Iranian regime continues to pay a steep economic price for its reckless behavior, with the rial plunging to another record low and inflation up massively,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement. “Treasury will continue cutting off economic access for corrupt Iranian regime elites, along with their financiers and facilitators.”
Iran’s currency has hit new lows in recent weeks amid demand for foreign currencies, with the resurgence of military hostilities ratcheting up pressure on Iran’s economy, which is already grappling with 60%-plus inflation and negative growth.
Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control first designated Zanjani and his two largest digital asset projects, Zedcex Exchange Limited (Zedcex) and Zedxion Exchange Limited (Zedxion) in January.
Zanjani, a billionaire convicted of fraud, has long been a key figure in Iran’s sanctions-evasion network. He was sentenced to death by Iranian authorities in 2016 for embezzlement. His sentence was commuted in 2024, and he re-emerged as a backer of Iranian government economic projects by 2025, Treasury said.
After his commutation, Zanjani backed a series of high‑profile infrastructure and transportation ventures and built a network of digital asset companies, including Zedcex and Zedxion, which Treasury said were used in part to launder money for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Zanjani also played a key role as chief executive and financial backer for multiple Iran-based “Dot One” projects across the country, including an $800 million rail contract secured in April 2025, Treasury said.
It said it was designating Dot One Value Creation Group (Dot One Value), the group’s primary holding company, and Dot One Gold Company, its gold bar minter, producer, and custodian company, for their ties to Zanjani, as well as Dot One Rail Co, Dot One Barter Co, Dot One Airlines Co, and Dot One Trip.
Also designated were:
• Istanbul-based Zedpay Finansal Sistem Ve Hizmetleri Anonim Sirketi (Zedpay) for its work providing cross-border payment capabilities to the sanctioned entity Zedxion, and its chairperson, Mehdi Rezazadeh.
• Dubai-based Zedx DMCC (Zedx) for its ties to Zanjani’s Zedcexm along with its manager Sukhrob Oimakhmadov.
• Dubai-based BZ Diamond FZCO (BZ Diamond), a dealer of lab-grown and natural diamonds managed by Zanjani’s sister, Bahareh Morteza Zanjani, and the sister herself.
• Zanjani’s partner, Solmaz Bani, who has registered websites for Zanjani’s companies.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Michelle Nichols and Andrea Ricci )
By Andrea Shalal | Reuters | © Copyright Thomson Reuters 2026.
