U.S. Expands Sanctions Pressure on Iran
Beyond Oil, Targeting Gold, Crypto, Aviation, Shipping and Technology
The United States threatened sanctions for any country or entity that engages
with Iran’s gold, digital assets, aviation, shipping and tech industries. Here’s
why that matters.
·
“Economic D-Day”: The U.S. has threatened broader sanctions
against countries and entities doing business with Iran in key sectors beyond oil.
·
Five sectors
targeted: The proposed
pressure focuses on gold, digital
assets/cryptocurrency, aviation, shipping and technology.
·
Gold: Iran has increasingly relied on gold as a
safe haven amid currency weakness and inflation. It imported over US$1 billion of gold during a four-month
period in 2025, mainly from Turkey, UAE and China.
·
Cryptocurrency: Iran’s crypto sector was estimated at around
US$7.8 billion in 2025.
The U.S. alleges cryptocurrency is also being used for sanctions evasion and illicit
financial flows.
·
Aviation: New sanctions could affect countries allowing
Iranian commercial aircraft to use their airports. The U.S. alleges Iranian airlines
are used to transport personnel, weapons, sensitive technology, gold and cash.
·
Shipping: Iran depends on shipping not only for oil
but also for machinery, electronics and other imports. The U.S. is targeting networks
linked to Iran’s “shadow fleet”
accused of circumventing sanctions.
·
Technology: The U.S. has raised concerns over Iran obtaining
advanced dual-use technologies
that could support weapons programmes.
·
Impact
on trading partners: The announcement
could put major Iranian trading partners, particularly China, under pressure if
they continue dealing with the targeted sectors.
·
Sanctions
circumvention: Iran has
historically sought alternative trading channels through Russia and neighbouring countries,
which may limit the effectiveness of the measures.
·
Economic
impact: Analysts
warned that wider sanctions could disproportionately affect ordinary Iranian civilians,
particularly through higher costs and reduced access to goods and financial channels.
·
Current
status: The announcement
was primarily a warning of
possible further sanctions; it did not immediately blacklist every
individual or company involved, leaving room for negotiations.
[ABS News Service/27.08.2026]
Frustrated on the military front by its war with Iran, the United
States has announced an “Economic D-Day,” threatening to punish any country or entity
that does business with Tehran in key industries.
The U.S. Treasury Department vowed to target Iran’s gold, digital
assets and aviation industries, among others, aiming to throttle the few options
Iran has left for global trade. Iran uses these sectors “to prop up its failing
economy” and to “continue its campaign of destabilization and terrorism in the region
and around the world,” the Treasury Department said in a statement on Monday.
Iranian officials dismissed the Trump administration’s pronouncement
as bluster. Iran’s speaker of Parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said in a statement on social media on Monday that Iran’s trading partners were not
taking the new threats seriously.
The sweeping Treasury announcement left many questions, including
how far the United States was willing to go to punish major Iranian trading partners,
like China. And Iran has long found ways to circumvent such measures, including
by trading with Russia and its neighbors in the region.
But though the declaration served as a warning to certain industries, it did not immediately
blacklist all individuals and companies involved, providing time for negotiations.
The threat of a more aggressive economic tack via new U.S. sanctions, however, came
less than a week after the United Arab Emirates, one of Iran’s top trading partners,
announced plans to halt all trade and financial transactions with the country.
Mahdi Ghodsi, an economist at the Vienna Institute for International
Economic Studies, said the new generalized sanctions proposed by the United States
stood to hit ordinary Iranians the hardest. As in war, Mr. Ghodsi said, “civilians
are the casualties” in economic conflict.
Here are the sectors the United States has threatened with further
sanctions.
The United States has enforced sanctions on Iran for decades. And
before the first U.S. and Israeli missiles struck Iran on Feb. 28, economic suffering
in the country was deep and widespread.
Some Iranians have turned to gold to protect their savings from a
currency crisis and surging inflation. The precious metal is viewed as a safer asset
than Iran’s currency, the rial, which hit record lows on Monday after the new U.S.
threats of sanctions.
The nation’s central bank has also been loading up on gold for years.
Over a four-month stretch in 2025, Iran imported more
than $1 billion worth of gold, mostly from Turkey,
the United Arab Emirates and China, according to a leading Iranian economic newspaper.
Iran’s cryptocurrency sector is worth nearly $7.8 billion, according
to 2025 estimates by Chainalysis, a blockchain analysis firm.
The same organization calculated that the volume of funds received
by accounts affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps grew to more
than $3 billion in 2025 from over $2 billion in 2024, based on data from U.S. and
Israeli governments agencies.
Like gold, analysts say, alternative financial assets have become
an important way for Iranian civilians to try to protect their wealth. The United
States has also accused Tehran of using the technology to facilitate illicit cash
flows.
“The Iranian regime increasingly turns to cryptocurrency as a tool
of choice for sanctions evasion, supporting transactions linked” to the Revolutionary
Guards, the Treasury Department said in its Monday statement.
The United States has targeted Iranian cryptocurrency firms before.
In June, the Treasury Department imposed sanctions on the country’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Nobitex, accusing it of helping the government evade sanctions,
pay for militant activities and transfer wealth abroad.
One person singled out in Monday’s announcement was Ivan Obukhov,
a Ukrainian national based in the Emirates, who the Treasury Department said had
“for years served as a broker for Iranian shadow fleet vessels” and had “facilitated
Iranian oil shipments for the Iranian military and its proxies.”
He is accused of processing more than $100 million worth of cryptocurrency
payments since 2023 to facilitate oil sales for the Revolutionary Guards.
Mr. Ghodsi, the economist, said the effectiveness of the proposed
sanctions would depend on the United States’ ability to identify and isolate “nodes”
in Iran’s network of cryptocurrency exchanges.
Passenger flights are a lifeline for Iranians seeking to visit family outside the
country. New sanctions could put other countries at risk of American reprisal if
they allow Iranian commercial planes, some of which are affiliated with the Revolutionary
Guards, to land at their airports.
The Treasury Department says Iran uses its airlines to “ferry fighters,
ship weapons and sensitive technologies, and move gold and hard cash to its proxies,”
referring to Iran-backed militant groups in the region, like Hezbollah in Lebanon
and Hamas in Gaza.
While sanctions against Iran’s aviation industry target airlines
inside the country, global air travel has continued to experience the effects of
the conflict. The fighting caused flights to be diverted early in the war. And the
hit to fuel prices may continue to raise the cost of plane
tickets for the foreseeable future.
The United States, which has been enforcing sanctions on Iran for
decades, imposed a monthslong blockade on its shipments of oil, the nation’s economic
engine.
But while Iran’s oil exports have taken center
stage during the war, the country also relies on imports of machinery, electronics
and other goods.
Its large domestic economy is self-sufficient in various sectors,
Mr. Ghodsi said, but Iran still faces shortages of materials like steel, especially
after U.S. strikes during the conflict damaged or destroyed critical infrastructure.
“Iran’s national shipping line regularly transports sensitive weapons
components and missile precursors, while Iran’s national tanker service illicitly
ships oil for the regime and its military services,” the Treasury Department said
in its statement.
In July, the department targeted a suite of individuals and companies based outside Iran, accusing them of helping the country’s “shadow fleet” of ships to
evade sanctions.
The Trump administration did not specify which countries, entities
or goods would be targeted in the technological sector.
But the Treasury Department said Iran had imported advanced technologies
for use in its weapons programs.
A 2025
analysis by Kharon, a trade analytics firm,
found that an initiative run by the Iranian government had established a network
of overseas companies that facilitated the trade of so-called dual-use military
and civilian technology, despite U.S. sanctions.