The Treasury Department on Friday sanctioned eight Canadian currency-exchange businesses, cutting them off from the US dollar system after saying they helped Iranian entities evade financial sanctions. The action, announced as part of Operation Economic Outcast, immediately freezes any assets the firms hold in the US and bars transactions with American people or entities.
Scott Bessent put the move in blunt terms: Canada cannot be a safe haven for illicit financial facilitators that provide sanctions evasion services to the Iranian regime and its proxies. Among the firms named were Million Exchange, Amin Exchange and Cryptoyal, and the businesses are based in Ontario and British Columbia.
The US Treasury said some of the firms converted Iranian rials and other currencies into digital assets such as cryptocurrency, a method it described as laundering proceeds tied to sanctions evasion. It also said some of the businesses helped an alleged head of a drug trafficking ring, but it did not lay out the specific transactions or evidence behind each allegation. That missing detail leaves the sanctions broad in reach but thin on public proof.
The measures fit into a wider campaign that the Treasury says is aimed at severing the economic lifelines that sustain the Iranian regime and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. On Wednesday, the department sanctioned a network in India and Turkiye it accused of helping Iran evade restrictions on oil exports and airlines, and last week US officials said the pressure campaign had pushed Iran's rial to new lows and driven inflation to about 90 percent.
Friday also brought a parallel move from FinCEN, which issued an order targeting MEXC Global and said the action prevents US financial institutions from processing fund transfers involving the Seychelles-incorporated exchange. FINTRAC said it worked with FinCEN on the Canadian money service businesses, underscoring how the campaign is widening across borders. The unresolved question now is how far the Treasury will take that pressure next, and whether the public evidence for these sanctions will be expanded as the restrictions bite.
