The United States announced on Friday the imposition of additional sanctions on nine companies and four individuals linked to the sanctioned Iranian billionaire Babak Zanjani for their role in evading US sanctions, as US forces escalate their strikes on Iran.

The Treasury Department said the new measures target Zanjani's operations in Iran under his conglomerate Dot One, in addition to several companies based in Turkey and the UAE that supported his digital asset exchanges already on the sanctions lists, as well as senior executives of those companies.

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The department explained that Zanjani exploited a diverse investment portfolio, including financial services, digital asset trading, gold and gemstone production, as well as major infrastructure projects, to launder money and secretly transfer it to Iran.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement: "The Iranian regime continues to pay a heavy economic price for its reckless behavior, as the rial has fallen to a new record low, and inflation has risen dramatically... The Treasury Department will continue to tighten the economic capabilities of the corrupt elites in the Iranian regime, as well as their financiers and intermediaries."

The Iranian currency has plunged to record lows in recent weeks amid rising demand for foreign currencies as military tensions escalate anew and pressure mounts on Iran's economy, already suffering from inflation exceeding 60% and contraction.

The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control had designated Zanjani and his two main digital asset ventures, Zadex Limited (Zadex) and Zadexion Limited (Zadexion), to the sanctions list in January.

Zanjani, the billionaire previously convicted of fraud, is said to play a pivotal role in Iran's sanctions evasion network. Iranian authorities sentenced him to death in 2016 on embezzlement charges. The sentence was commuted in 2024, and he reemerged as a supporter of Iranian government economic projects by 2025, according to the Treasury Department.

After his sentence was commuted, Zanjani supported a series of major infrastructure and transportation projects and created a network of digital asset companies, including Zadex and Zadexion, which the US Treasury Department said were used in one way or another to launder money for the Revolutionary Guards.

According to the department, Zanjani played a major role as CEO and financier of many Dot One projects headquartered in Iran across the country, including an $800 million railway contract signed in April 2025.

The department also announced it would designate Dot One Value Creation Group (Dot One Value), the group's main holding company, and Dot One Gold, a subsidiary engaged in minting, producing, and storing gold bullion, due to their ties to Zanjani, in addition to Dot One Rail, Dot One Barter, Dot One Airlines, and Dot One Trip.

The list also included:

Z Pay Financial Systems and Services company, based in Istanbul, for providing cross-border payment services to the sanctioned entity Zadexion, and its board chairman Mehdi Reza Zadeh.

Zadex DMCC company, based in Dubai, for its ties to Zanjani's company Zadex, as well as its manager Sohrob Uymakhmedov.

BZ Diamond company, based in Dubai, a company trading in synthetic and natural diamonds, managed by Zanjani's sister, Bahareh Morteza Zanjani, as well as his sister herself.

Solmaz Bani, Zanjani's partner, who registered websites for Zanjani's companies.

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