The US Treasury imposed sanctions on Tuesday on four Iranian nationals and more than a dozen companies and individuals in Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates accused of helping Iran’s military move funds through oil sales and cryptocurrency.
“Iranian entities rely on shadow banking networks to evade sanctions and move millions through the international financial system,” Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence John Hurley said in a statement.
“Under President Trump’s leadership, we will continue to disrupt these key financial streams that fund Iran’s weapons programs and malign activities in the Middle East and beyond.”
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said Iranian nationals Alireza Derakhshan and Arash Estaki Alivand purchased more than $100 million in cryptocurrency for oil sales between 2023 and 2025.
Alivand, it alleged, also carried out transactions worth millions of dollars with Tawfiq Muhammad Sa’id al-Law, a Hezbollah-linked money changer who provided the group with access to digital wallets for funds tied to Iranian oil sales.
Also designated were Vahid Derakhshan and Leila Karimi, whom the Treasury said were involved in the financial activities of UAE- and Hong Kong-based firms tied to Derakhshan.
The action also targeted 13 UAE- and Hong Kong-based front companies, including Alpa Trading – FZCO, Powell Raw Materials Trading and Alpa Hong Kong Limited.
TheTreasury said the networks laundered hundreds of millions of dollars through front companies and digital assets to finance groups aligned with Iran and weapons programs including ballistic missiles and drones.
US revokes Chabahar sanctions waiver
Separately, the Secretary of State revoked a sanctions exception issued in 2018 under the Iran Freedom and Counter-Proliferation Act (IFCA) for Afghanistan reconstruction assistance and economic development, effective Sept. 29, 2025.
Afghanistan was overrun by Washington's Taliban foes in 2021.
“Once the revocation is effective, persons who operate the Chabahar Port or engage in other activities described in IFCA may expose themselves to sanctions,” State Department principal deputy spokesperson Thomas Pigott said in a statement.
The Iran Freedom and Counter-Proliferation Act imposes penalties on sectors of Iran’s economy linked to energy, shipping, and shipbuilding.
Chabahar Port, in southeastern Iran, had been exempted since 2018 to facilitate trade and reconstruction projects for Afghanistan.
Vahid Yazdanian, who leads the Space Research Center under the Ministry of Communications, told the state-run ILNA news agency that GPS disruptions in Iran stem from the absence of indigenous navigation satellites.
He said Iran currently lacks any navigation satellites, relying instead on foreign systems.
“No global navigation system can be fully secure,” he said. “The ultimate solution is to develop a domestic satellite navigation constellation.”
Yazdanian added that the country needs to build its own infrastructure to secure applications ranging from urban transport to the navigation of trains, ships and aircraft.
He also pointed to broader uses of space technology, saying that Iran’s Earth observation satellites already provide images that help policymakers estimate crop yields and manage water resources.
According to Yazdanian, satellite imagery has allowed the government to monitor wheat, barley, maize and potato production, and to make decisions about imports or domestic procurement.
The comments come as Iran pushes ahead with an ambitious space program. The head of the Iranian Space Agency said earlier this month that Tehran plans to launch four satellites by March 2026 and begin operations at its new spaceport in Chabahar, on the country’s southeastern coast.
Among the planned launches are the Zafar, Paya, and a second model of the Kowsar Earth observation satellite, along with test units of the Soleimani narrowband communications constellation.
Western governments have repeatedly voiced concern that Iran’s satellite program could advance ballistic missile technology. Tehran says its activities are for peaceful purposes, adding the satellites will support civilian applications such as communications, agriculture and environmental monitoring.
“Several countries in the region are trying to play a positive role, not only Qatar,” Araghchi told reporters at the opening of the second Iran-Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) conference.
“But for starting negotiations, the question is not the mediator. The important point is the will of the other side. Whenever they accept that a deal must be based on mutual interests, without threat and intimidation, the rest are details.”
Araghchi used his speech to warn against what he called unchecked unilateralism and said the world needed to strengthen multilateral alliances.
“Today, more than ever, the world is faced with reckless unilateralism. This worrying trend has made the international order more fragile and posed serious challenges to security,” he said.“Cooperation among developing countries in multilateral formats is no longer a choice but a necessity.”
He said Iran had been a “victim of America’s unjust unilateralism and Israel’s dangerous adventurism” but would continue to act as an active regional player through bodies such as ECO.
Tehran and other member states are drafting a 10-year vision for the group until 2035 to expand its role in regional development, he said.
Turning to regional politics, Araghchi said this week’s emergency Arab-Islamic summit in Doha had highlighted a consensus on Israel as the main security threat.
“What the Islamic Republic of Iran has been saying for years -- that the Zionist regime is the main threat to the region and its aggression has no end -- has now become an undeniable truth for everyone,” he said.
He added that Iran welcomed the regional convergence and called for “collective movement and unity among all countries in the region” to respond.
On Monday, Iran’s foreign ministry rejected references to a two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the final communique of the Arab-Islamic emergency summit in Doha, saying the approach would not resolve the issue and accusing US policies of sustaining Israeli aggression.
On the South Caucasus, Araghchi said disputes such as the Zangezur corridor remained complex and should be settled by regional states.
“The United States has not contributed to lasting peace in the region,” he said. “Our recommendation is regional mechanisms, and the Islamic Republic has proposed the 3+3 format.”
Araghchi and President Masoud Pezeshkian are due to attend this month’s United Nations General Assembly, which the minister described as an important platform for “conveying the voice of the Iranian people to the international community.”
Foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on X that the text, backed by China, Russia, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Belarus, was intended “to defend the integrity of the NPT” and reaffirmed the inalienable right to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
“All states must refrain from attacking or threatening to attack peaceful nuclear facilities in other countries,” Baghaei wrote. “These principles must be upheld; it is high time that the international community acted firmly to prevent the normalization of lawlessness.”
Draft resolution
The draft resolution condemns “the deliberate and unlawful attacks carried out in June 2025 against nuclear sites and facilities of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” calling them clear violations of the UN Charter and the IAEA Statute.
It says nuclear sites under IAEA safeguards “shall not be subject to any kind of attack or threat of attack,” adding that such actions pose serious risks to international peace and security, human health, the environment, and the credibility of the non-proliferation regime.
The document also recalls UN Security Council Resolution 487 of 1981, which condemned Israel’s bombing of Iraq’s Osirak reactor, and reaffirms previous IAEA decisions prohibiting attacks on safeguarded facilities.
It further stressed that all questions regarding nuclear programs should be resolved “exclusively through dialogue and diplomacy, as the only viable path.”
Israel launched a surprise military campaign on June 13 targeting Iranian nuclear and military sites, including senior commanders and nuclear officials in a conflict that lasted 12 days. On June 22, the United States joined the campaign, striking nuclear facilities in Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan. Washington brokered a ceasefire on June 24.
Iran’s nuclear chief Mohammad Eslami told the conference on Monday that Tehran’s atomic program “cannot be eliminated through military action,” accusing Israel and the United States of launching illegal strikes on Iranian sites in June.
“Despite our formal request, the agency did not condemn the attacks by the United States and Israel on the nuclear centers of the Islamic Republic,” Eslami said, calling the IAEA’s silence “a stain on the Agency’s history.”
Eslami said Tehran would use the conference to highlight what he called unlawful measures against its nuclear industry and to push for adoption of the draft.
The debate comes as Iran’s recent cooperation deal with IAEA chief Rafael Grossi awaits implementation and European powers press ahead with the UN “snapback” mechanism that could reinstate sanctions on Tehran by late September.
