Iran team departs for Mexico ahead of World Cup amid US visa issues

The US Treasury designated Nobitex alongside Wallex, Bitpin and Ramzinex and sanctioned senior figures connected to Nobitex, including chairman, co-founder and former chief executive Amir Hossein Rad.

According to the Treasury, Nobitex processed more than half of all Iranian digital asset inflows in 2025. Washington also accused it of facilitating transactions linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), sanctions evasion, ransomware activity and the Central Bank of Iran's access to hundreds of millions of dollars in stablecoins.

The sanctions therefore struck at part of the infrastructure that has allowed Iranian individuals, companies and state-linked actors to access international digital asset markets despite years of financial restrictions.

Crypto vs sanctions

Iran's interest in cryptocurrency is not difficult to explain. Sanctions have sharply limited access to international banking networks, dollar transactions, trade finance and oil revenues. Digital assets do not eliminate these constraints but can provide alternative channels for moving value across borders.

Cryptocurrencies and stablecoins can help facilitate transactions, preserve value and maintain access to foreign markets. Stablecoins are particularly attractive because they reduce exposure to price volatility while still operating outside traditional correspondent banking networks.

Crypto mining has also become part of Iran's sanctions-evasion toolkit. By using subsidized electricity to mine Bitcoin, Iran can effectively convert domestic energy resources into a globally transferable digital asset.

The strategy comes with costs. Mining places additional strain on Iran's electricity grid and has been linked to power shortages and public frustration. Yet for a sanctioned economy, the logic remains compelling: when access to conventional finance is restricted, any mechanism capable of transforming local resources into internationally usable value becomes strategically important.

Hormuz and crypto

Cryptocurrency has also emerged in discussions surrounding the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world's most important energy chokepoints.

Chainalysis reported recently that Iran intended to demand cryptocurrency payments from oil tankers seeking safe passage through the strait during periods of heightened tension. Whether such plans were fully implemented is less important than what they reveal about the potential role of digital assets in future geopolitical confrontations.

For Tehran, cryptocurrency offers several advantages in such scenarios. Payments can move rapidly across borders, avoid some traditional banking restrictions and reduce exposure to frozen accounts or conventional financial controls.

The prospect of crypto-based payments linked to maritime security demonstrates how digital assets could potentially be used not only to move money quietly but also to generate revenue during periods of geopolitical crisis.

The US Treasury has warned of sanctions risks associated with Iranian demands for transit-related payments through the Strait of Hormuz, including payments made through digital assets, fiat currency, offsets, swaps or other arrangements.

Blockchain evasion limits

Despite its advantages, cryptocurrency is not a magic shield against sanctions.

Blockchain transactions often leave traces that can be analyzed by firms such as Chainalysis and Elliptic or by government financial-intelligence agencies.

Once the United States designates a platform such as Nobitex, international exchanges, liquidity providers and counterparties face increased risks if they continue interacting with Iranian-linked wallets. This pushes activity toward smaller, less liquid and often riskier channels.

The sanctions also highlight another vulnerability. Treasury officials noted that Nobitex suffered a major hack in June 2025, underscoring the risks associated with relying on digital financial infrastructure.

Another area of interest is the role of the IRGC, which under Iran's previous budget law was tasked with exporting roughly 700,000 barrels of crude oil per day—about half of the country's exports at the time. The organization is also one of Iran's largest infrastructure contractors.

While available data do not reveal where imported services originated or who ultimately benefited from them, the overlap illustrates the growing importance of non-traditional financial channels within Iran's sanctioned economy.

Iran is likely to adapt. Activity may shift toward peer-to-peer trading, decentralized platforms, foreign intermediaries, stablecoin networks or new domestic exchanges. Yet each alternative carries costs, whether through reduced liquidity, greater compliance risks or increased exposure to future sanctions.

For Washington, the challenge is sustained enforcement. Sanctioning Nobitex will matter most if it is accompanied by international cooperation, improved blockchain intelligence, pressure on foreign exchanges and clear guidance for shipping firms, insurers and commodity traders.

The United States does not need to stop every Iranian crypto transaction to have an effect. It only needs to make the system more expensive, more traceable, riskier and less attractive for counterparties.

The Nobitex case illustrates how financial warfare has moved from banks to blockchains. Digital assets have given Tehran greater flexibility under sanctions, but they have also created new vulnerabilities.

The more Iran relies on crypto infrastructure, the more that infrastructure becomes part of the sanctions battlefield.

Recent US intelligence reports raised concerns that Israeli spy agencies were allegedly eavesdropping on American officials involved in negotiations with Iran, The New York Times reported, citing US officials familiar with the assessments.

The report said Israel had allegedly intensified efforts to gather information on US positions in the talks, including by targeting senior officials such as President Donald Trump's top negotiator Steve Witkoff, the Pentagon's top policy official Elbridge Colby, and deputy assistant secretary Michael DiMino.

The report said a Defense Intelligence Agency assessment increased the counterintelligence threat level posed by Israel from "high" to "critical" in recent weeks, citing concerns over alleged efforts to spy on US military personnel and government officials. The report said American defense personnel in Israel had detected software installed on their phones that could intercept communications.

A White House official disputed the account and said it was false, while a spokesperson for the Israeli embassy in Washington denied that Israel spies on American officials or entities, the newspaper said.

Reza Mohammadhosseini, a monarchist political prisoner held in Ghezel Hesar Prison in Iran’s Alborz province, thanked exiled Iranian princess Noor Pahlavi for her human rights advocacy and for carrying Iranians’ voices to the world.

“From behind the cold, high walls of Ghezel Hesar Prison — where for years I have watched the sky through the bars — the words of Princess Noor Pahlavi reached me from thousands of kilometers away; yet they were so bound to the pain, the suffering, and the aspirations of the people of Iran that it was as if they had risen from these very cells,” Mohammadhosseini wrote, according to the statement by exiled Prince Reza Pahlavi’s office.

Mohammadhosseini cited Noor Pahlavi’s speech in Oslo as a reminder that “the voice of the people of Iran is still being heard” and said the struggle for freedom, justice and human rights had no borders.

He called for the release of political prisoners and said many people in Iran were held “solely for the crime of thinking, writing, protesting, and demanding their human rights.”

"Today, more than ever, Iran needs global solidarity in defense of human dignity,” he wrote.

Witnesses described security forces shooting at protesters, blocking aid to the wounded, demanding money from families before returning bodies, and pressuring relatives to hold secret burials and avoid public ceremonies.

The new accounts add to an Iran International public documentation campaign that has gathered testimony saying protesters in Rasht were driven into narrow market passages, trapped as fire spread and fired upon by security forces during January’s unrest.

The morning of Jan 9: a city in smoke, blood and fire

One eyewitness told Iran International that around 5 a.m. on January 9, heavy smoke and fire were still rising in the municipality area of Rasht.

The witness said streets leading to the municipality, including Namjoo Street, Imam Street, Shahrdari Street and the route from the bazaar toward Saqlan Square, were badly damaged and parts of the city had burned.

“On the morning of January 9, the city smelled of smoke. Traces of blood were clearly visible on Shahrdari and Saadi streets. The bloody handprints of protesters were on the city walls. Basijis in Sabzeh Meydan Square were busy erasing slogans with spray paint, and large parts of the bazaar had completely burned,” the witness said.

Bodies moved in pickup trucks and garbage trucks

An eyewitness told Iran International that on the morning of January 9, several municipal pickup trucks left Shahrdari Street, and the bodies of some of those killed were in the back of one vehicle, covered with cloth.

Iran International has also received multiple reports indicating that the bodies of some of those killed in Rasht were collected with garbage trucks and secretly transferred.

Witnesses said some wounded people were also among the bodies transferred to Bagh-e Rezvan cemetery in Rasht.

A source said one wounded person who had been transferred to Bagh-e Rezvan along with the bodies managed to escape and hid for a while in a nearby forest.

Transfer of bodies to an unmarked warehouse

New information received by Iran International shows that on January 8 and 9, the bodies of some of those killed in Rasht were transferred to a warehouse on Tehran Road, between Bagh-e Rezvan and Saravan.

The warehouse was painted red, white and green and had no specific sign or official marking.

The bodies were kept there temporarily before burial or transfer to other locations.

Witnesses describe DShK machine gun fire on protesters

Witnesses told Iran International that security forces used heavy weapons including DShK machine guns against people who had entered parts of the city’s military areas.

According to the accounts, the area around the Rasht governor’s office was one of the main sites where protesters were killed on January 8 and 9.

One eyewitness said Basij and Revolutionary Guards forces directed the crowd toward the governor’s office, placing protesters on a route where their ability to leave or retreat was limited.

The witnesses said armed forces shot at people after the gates of the governor’s office were opened.

The accounts indicated that the crackdown in Rasht was not limited to streets around the municipality, the bazaar, Namjoo Street and Sajjad Clinic, and that the area around the governor’s office was also a key site of shootings and killings.

Families told to pay for slain protesters’ bodies

Sources told Iran International that slain protesters' families faced severe security pressure.

Some families were asked to pay money to receive the bodies of their children, with the amount depending on the family’s financial situation, according to the accounts.

Some families were asked for several billion rials, equivalent to several thousand dollars, and in some cases more than 10 billion rials, or over $5,700 at the open-market rate, the sources said.

An eyewitness said one family was told to bring a box of sweets along with the payment before they could receive their loved one’s body.

The witness said the request was part of a humiliating process of dealing with the survivors.

Families forced into secret night burials

Witnesses told Iran International that the families of some slain protesters were not allowed to wash their loved ones’ bodies, a standard Islamic burial rite performed before burial.

One eyewitness said security agents told a family the victims were “ritually impure” and had to be buried as they were, bloodied and still in their clothes.

According to witness accounts, burials were often carried out late at night or near dawn, with a limited number of family members present and under pressure from security forces.

The burial place of many of the victims is in the far sections of Bagh-e Rezvan in Rasht.

Families said they were repeatedly humiliated and threatened while receiving and burying the bodies.

Iran’s Supreme Court has upheld death sentences against five political prisoners held in Sheiban Prison in Ahvaz, in southwest Iran, the Karun Human Rights Organization said.

The rights group said the five prisoners were at imminent risk of execution after trials it said were marked by denial of access to independent lawyers, violations of defendants’ rights and reliance on “forced confessions.”

The group named the prisoners as Masoud Jamei, Alireza Mordasi, also known as Hamidavi, Farshad Etemadi-Far, Hassan Mosallavi (Torfi), and Reza Abdali, also known as Daghaghleh.

It said Jamei, Mordasi and Etemadi-Far were tried last year on charges including “corruption on earth,” “membership in rebel groups opposed to the Islamic Republic,” “propaganda against the system” and “assembly and collusion.”

Mosallavi, a 38-year-old Arab civil and cultural activist detained since 2022, was sentenced to death in absentia on charges of “waging war against God” and “membership in Arab groups opposed to the Islamic Republic,” the organization said.

Abdali, a 35-year-old political prisoner, was given a death sentence and a 15-year prison term on a charge of “contact with organizations outside the country,” the group said.

The Karun Human Rights Organization called for urgent international action to stop the executions.