TRM Labs has noted that on July 24, 2026, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) significantly widened its Iran-related sanctions by designating additional individuals and companies linked to Iranian businessman Babak Zanjani and the associated Dot One commercial network.
Previous measures had focused mainly on the cryptocurrency platforms Zedcex Exchange Ltd and Zedxion Exchange Ltd.
The latest designations reach into gold production, digital payments, transportation, and a collection of Turkey- and UAE-based firms that supplied material, technological, and financial assistance to those exchanges.
This move demonstrates a more advanced grasp of how modern sanctions-evasion operations function.
Instead of depending on one exchange or financial institution, these networks spread risk across many seemingly separate companies, each handling distinct stages of commerce, settlement, or value transfer.
Earlier in the year, TRM Labs examined the Zedcex ecosystem after OFAC sanctioned the two exchanges—the first digital-asset platforms targeted for ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Blockchain tracing showed the platforms handled tens of billions of dollars in cryptocurrency while serving as important infrastructure inside Iran’s digital-asset landscape.
Follow-up work looked beyond on-chain activity to map supporting payment providers, corporate vehicles, logistics firms, and key personnel.
Many of the newly designated names—ZEDX DMCC, ZedPay, BZ Diamond, and several Dot One companies—had already surfaced in that earlier mapping of the corporate and operational structure around Zedxion.
The sanctions therefore target a vertically integrated commercial system that spans digital assets, payment services, commodity trading, logistics, transportation, and international trade.
Although each firm presented itself as an independent player in its own sector, investigators noted repeated governance patterns, shared branding, lasting digital infrastructure, and overlapping personnel that pointed to a far more unified network than official corporate filings alone suggested.
ZEDX DMCC, a Dubai-registered company, illustrates the network’s growing reliance on the United Arab Emirates.
Operational focus had gradually shifted from short-lived UK entities toward more durable UAE structures centered in Dubai. Designating ZedPay, the payment platform that operated alongside the Zedxion ecosystem, shows enforcement expanding from pure cryptocurrency venues to the financial services that support them.
Corporate records and public materials consistently linked ZedPay with the exchanges, indicating payment processing formed an integral rather than peripheral element.
Treasury also named Mehdi Rezazadeh, chief executive of ZedPay. Prior research had identified him as a senior figure in the wider ecosystem; he appeared at international commercial events discussing mining investment and cooperation involving Africa, Russia, China, and Iran, and earlier UK records connected him to related companies.
Including an individual executive signals that authorities are pursuing personnel as well as corporate vehicles.
BZ Diamond DMCC, a Dubai precious-metals firm linked to Bahareh Zanjani, further demonstrates the network’s reach beyond digital assets.
Technical infrastructure overlapping with other parts of the group reinforced its place in the broader architecture.
Collectively, the newly sanctioned entities operate across aviation, rail, commodity trading, travel, precious metals, payments, and digital assets.
Viewed separately they look like ordinary businesses; viewed together they form a diversified system able to conduct international commerce while limiting dependence on any single firm or jurisdiction.
Recurring themes help explain the network’s resilience: the same individuals repeatedly appeared as directors, shareholders, or technical administrators across multiple companies; UK entities frequently cycled through incorporation, dormancy, and leadership changes while successor firms preserved branding and operational ties; and digital assets—domain registrations, email addresses, and technical administrators—remained consistent even as legal entities changed.
Diversification across more than nine industries further spread risk and created multiple channels for value movement.
The July 24 designations therefore represent more than an incremental expansion against Zanjani.
They reflect an evolving enforcement approach that treats sophisticated sanctions-evasion networks as interconnected commercial ecosystems rather than isolated exchanges.
TRM Labs has now concluded that for compliance and investigative teams, the lesson is clear: cryptocurrency activity rarely stands alone. Full understanding requires combining blockchain analysis with corporate records, domain intelligence, and open-source research to map the wider support structures that enable illicit finance to persist.